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Head Bashed In Buffalo Jump
July, 1997
I am highly critical of most archaeological "interpretation centres". Many approach or even overtake Disneyland in their treatment of the past. Very many are put together by people ignorant of real archaeology. I usually go out of my way to avoid them. I hate meeting actors dressed in period costume. I am pained by "replica" archaeological trenches. I dislike most "reconstructions", all of which begin to look dustily alike, with their carefully-positioned artefacts and highly made-up dummy humans..
However I was very impressed by Head Bashed In Buffalo Jump, a centre that clings to a windswept cliff in western Alberta. We approached the site across pretty unspectacular grassland under a leaden grey sky, the wind keening across from the west. Even the external look of the place, somewhat akin to a concrete gun emplacement, wasn't all that prepossessing.
As we arrived I was passingly amused by those overweight individuals who caught the shuttle bus the hundred yards from the car park, missing a little exercise that would have done them good.
But once we were into the building the whole atmosphere changed, as we followed the well-organized route through the displays. We began looking out from the cliff top, our eyes watering from the wind, peering into the distance alongside a ground hog that sat nearby on a rock. Then we entered the centre, which steps down the face of the cliff that was once a killing ground.
There were uncluttered displays arranged imaginatively in a cascade down the slope. Even the occasional stuffed animals didn't detract too much from the atmosphere. Even the display of archaeological methods was impressive, especially compared to some I've seen in the UK.
I'd begun in a sceptical frame of mind for, after all, what can one learn from a pile of old buffalo bones at the foot of a unspectacular cliff? But by the time we exited into the chill wind again I was full of admiration for the project and the centre.