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About the Vore
Buffalo Jump |
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Bison
Trap at the Interface. The
rich cultures and fascinating history of the Plains Indians developed around the
immense bison herds and grasslands and of western North America. Many Native American groups believe the
Black Hills
have spiritual properties as well as important material resources.
The Vore Buffalo Jump is on the interface between what were once great bison
pastures of the northern Great Plains and the Black Hills,
making it highly attractive to various groups of buffalo hunters.
In about 300 years, the site was used by five or more tribes.
The Vore
Buffalo Jump features enormous quantities of bone and stone artifacts that are
perfectly preserved in discrete, precisely datable layers and held in place
within a natural bowl. Events at the Vore Site can be dated with precision that
is unprecedented among archeological excavations in part because the annual
layers of sediment, called varves, that washed into the sink hole can be counted
much like tree rings. When combined with other dating techniques, these varves
allow scientists to estimate the dates of "jumps" at the site with
amazing accuracy. The varves also provide evidence about weather cycles,
ecological change, and other factors of interest. Within the site are the butchered remnants of as many 20,000 bison
as well as thousands of chipped stone arrow points, knives, and other tools.
The materials are contained within 22 cultural levels that extend
downward to a depth of nearly 20 feet.
The
photo at right shows an
excavation unit at the Vore Buffalo Jump with some of the more than 20 layers
of bison bone and other artifacts.
The photo was taken during the post-discovery survey in 1971. Photo
copyright 2007 Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation.
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Much
Yet to Learn…and
a Great Place to Learn It.
Because only about 5% of the Vore Buffalo Jump has been excavated,
there is potential for decades of scientific research in several different
disciplines...archaeology, tribal ethnohistory, zoology, geology, and paleoclimatic studies.
Dozens of technical papers based on data
from the Vore site have already been published.
Just as the Black Hills
attracted Native Americans, visitors from around the world are fascinated by Plains Indians.
Because it is literally a
stone’s throw from one of America’s busiest highways, the Vore Buffalo Jump is also the most
accessible of the major Plains Indian sites to the traveling public. The Vore
Site thus provides a perfect physical context
for illuminating Plains
Indian culture and history and presenting it to visitors.
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The
variety of arrow point styles and stone types found at the Vore
site provides inferential evidence that the “Jump” was used by
multiple tribes.
Photo
copyright 2007 Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation.
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