-1 101 Z Head-Smashed-In was used over thousands of years for communal bison drives. Bison were coaxed into the basin which was surrounded by hills, making it into a huge natural corral. Skilled driving would then bring the bison towards the high sandstone cliff. Once near, they were stampeded and rushed headlong over the cliff. Hundreds of bison would be killed in this way at one time.
# Head-Smashed-In - opening PW
4 101 x A hunter checks and refurbishes his hunting equipment: several stone spearheads hafted (fixed) onto wooden shafts and bound with cord. The notched base of the spearhead is more effective for hafting than were the fluted-based 'Clovis' style stone points of his ancestors.
# Equipment, Notched spearhead
1 101 x Wearing masks and skins, a group of hunters, bellowing like bison, act as decoys to lure the herd towards the drive lane.
# Decoys
2 101 x Hunters who went out some days ago to scout a herd have been gently driving it towards the valley. They now skilfully move the herd in the direction of the drive lane, taking care not to frighten the animals into a premature stampede.
# Scouts
5 101 x A shaman (medicine man) is engrossed in the complex rituals that attend the hunt and ensure its success in the minds of the hunters. Shamans played a major role in directing and organizing the hunt.
# Shaman
10 101 x Hills behind surround the shallow basin to which a river provides the only access route. Once inside the basin the bison are trapped, although skilled driving is essential in order to bring them to the jump site where they can easily be slaughtered.
# Trap
9 101 x Low permanent cairns mark the drive lanes along which the herd must be driven to reach the jump-off point at the cliff summit. Temporary cairns of brushwood, earth and sod have been erected over them to discourage the bison from leaving the drive lane.
# Cairns
7 101 x A waiting hunter manufactures a new flint spearhead. First he strikes off large flakes with an antler hammer, reducing it to the required thinness. With the tip of an antler he then finely shapes the spearhead, removing small razor sharp flakes, protecting his hand with a piece of leather.
