Wahkpa Chugn

After careful research and thought I have chosen to do my report on the Wahkpa Chu'gn Archaeological Site. The site is located 22 miles west of the infamous Chief Joseph Battlefield. The Wahkpa Chu'gn Archaeological Site was used as a hunting ground for the Northern Plains Indians, more specifically the Saddle Butte, Besant, and Avonlea people. The site has been used by different cultures as far back as 2000 years ago until being abandoned 600 years ago. Back in 1962, John Brumley led a group of amateur archeologists to North Central Montana where he discovered the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump. I was given the opportunity to visit the site with John Brumley as my tour guide. This archeological site tells the age old story of hunting rituals, characteristics, and tendencies used by the three Native American tribes that had been there. These people used this site to veer buffalo off the edge of the cliffs where they fell to their death.

This type of hunt is very specific for the area. The tribes weren’t considered nomadic people, but they did move quite frequently. The Saddle Butte, Bresant, and Avonlea people followed the bison across the plains of south-central Alberta all the way to eastern North and South Dakota. They would scare the bison to areas such as the Wahkpa Chu’gn. They understood the bison would have a difficult time surviving an attack from the Natives as they went down the sides of the hills. The skeletal remains were used to create "pound” or corrals. The corrals were used as barriers that ran perpendicular to the bottom of the jump. If there were bison that survived the initial jump these barriers would be used to keep the bison from continuing their run away from the hunters. The tribes would skin buffalos and hang the skin over the barriers to create the idea that the barriers were a solid impenetrable wall. The remaining hunters that weren’t used to spook the buffalo over the ledges stood on the other side of the barriers yelling at the buffalo when they got close so they wouldn’t break through the barriers. This is very typical characteristic of these people during the Plains Indian lifespan.

The horse was later introduced to the Plains Indians during the 1600’s. The horse made the hunting a lot easier for the Indians. Plains Indians used every part of the buffalo for one purpose or another. Hides from the buffalo were used to make clothing and tipis. Horns from the buffalo made utensils including and dishes. Muscles and tendons provided glue and bowstrings. Plains Indians moved around quite frequently so the buffalo would be used to help with everyday life; all of the buffalo was used, nothing went to waste. After the kill, buffalo meat had to be prepared right away, especially during the summer since there was no refrigeration. The Plains Indians would use different forms for preparing their food. Some meat was eaten while it was fresh. Cutting the meat into strips and drying it out in the sun made jerky, which would last a long time without spoiling. Some of the jerky was processed into pemmican - a mixture of mashed jerky and fruit. Pemmican was made by pounding dried meat into powder and mixing it with melted fat and berries. The pemmican kept even longer than the jerky. Pemmican was often stored in a parfleche; a container made from buffalo rawhide. The Plains Indians also ate berries, cherries, wild greens, camas roots, and wild prairie turnip with the meat. The Plains Indians would use different cooking techniques when preparing their food. The two largely used methods were roasting pits and stone boiling. When using a roasting pit, a fire was started in the pit to get the rocks hot. The meat was placed in the hole, with the fire and heated rocks, covered with grass, twigs and earth, and left to roast for a day. At the Wahkpa Chu’gn site an authentic roasting pit is displayed in the exhibit farthest away from the jump which shows that Plains Indians moved their kill away from the actual kill site. The other form that was typically used

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