Posted on 08/07/2023 7:32:35 AM PDT by george76
Discovered in 1969, the Vore Buffalo Jump in northeast Wyoming contains the bones of more than 20,000 bison that were herded into and slaughtered there by Plains Indians. The site also has tools used to butcher the bison, arrowheads and even toys.
Anyone who’s driven Interstate 90 in northeast Wyoming to visit Devils Tower or the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally couldn’t miss the signs for the Vore Buffalo Jump.
Most drive past, but likely not without thinking, “What the heck is a buffalo jump?”
Put simply, it’s a big hole American Indians would herd buffalo into, then kill them in mass quantities. Think shooting fish in a barrel on a much larger scale.
The National Historic Site, named for the family that owned the land where it was uncovered, is by all accounts one of the most spectacular examples how a buffalo jump and a significant archeological discovery that’s only begun to reveal its secrets.
The Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation calls it "the Fort Knox" of buffalo traps.
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A New Discovery..
From a scientific standpoint, the Vore Buffalo Jump is a relatively new discovery.
For as long as anyone can remember, the area was just a giant sinkhole in the landscape about 200 feet across and 40 feet deep. The land was acquired by the Vore family when it homesteaded there in the 1880s.
It wasn’t until 1969 that it was discovered the giant sinkhole was much more than that.
As engineers planned to build Interstate 90 across northern Wyoming, they made a road into the sinkhole to test the gypsum base of the ground to see how stable it was for the interstate. There, they discovered the bison bones.
A lot of them.
In fact, it’s estimated the Vore Buffalo Jump contains the bones of 20,000 buffalo that were herded into and slaughtered there by Plains Indians. The site also has produced numerous other tools used to kill and butcher the bison, along with arrowheads and other artifacts, even toys.
“It’s not just a pile of bones, it’s a history book,” Gene Gade, director of the Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation, says on the foundation’s website.
A successful hunt could trap and kill 225 buffalo or more, and the stories of these hunts can be unearthed in the hole as the bones from the hunts build up in layers over each other.
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Why Vore Is Special
While there are other examples of buffalo jumps across the United States, the one in northwest Wyoming is an archaeological gem because it sat undisturbed for centuries before its recent discovery.
It’s considered the most well-preserved bed of bones in the Northern Hemisphere.
The University of Wyoming began exploring the site in 1971-72, and the Vore family donated the land to the university in 1989 so it could be used for education and research. Along with visitors, it hosts as many as 1,000 schoolchildren a year.
During the summer, the site is open for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Buffalo graveyard.
Don’t go there is you don’t want vengeful buffalo spirits to gore you to death.
But the young bucks saw plenty of bison and dismissed these concerns. I know this from studying various "winter count" calendars under the tutelage of tribal elders in a previous life.
Been to Devil’s Tower and Sturgis (not during Bike week, though) in summer of 2019 and missed this entirely.
Buffalo Jumps are interesting. imo
No! Only white devil misuse precious resources!
Could it be repurposed for democrats?
The January 6th Monument.
I drive by the big white teepee next to Vore Buffalo Jump at least twice a week. I visited it last summer. It’s worth the visit but, if you want to see it outside of tourist season, call ahead to make sure that it is open.
Been to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Funny story.
The train Station of Wyoming.....
While it’s the families name, “Vore” is also a slang term for a weird sexual fetish.
“The slang term “vore” means a rare sexual fetish where someone experiences sexual arousal from imagining swallowing or devouring someone whole or from being swallowed or devoured whole. For some, it can include chewing people up or being chewed up as well.”
Oddly appropriate in this case, though.
Odd...we’re staying in Buffalo wyo tonight.
“Odd...we’re staying in Buffalo wyo tonight.”
I went to a Rush Limbaugh, “Rush To Excellence Tour” in Buffalo, NY
Rush said that he bought all of his wives expensive gifts, washing machines, closes dyers, etc.
It makes sense and was likely made by the native North Americans before they began to obtain rifles from westerners.
Such a trap, and then herding the buffalo into it would make a lot of sense. Modern folks cannot put it into their modern context because that hpyocrisy would ignore how they obtain meat for THEIR diets. Ever seen a beef slaughterhouse or a farm raising calves for veal???
So the Worshippers of the land SLAUTERED buffalo wholesale.
I thought it was the evil white guys.
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There was an article once on FR about the annual whale slaughter in the Faroe Islands. Even FReepers couldn’t understand why the entire island participates in the old and very bloody ritual.
They have no concept of not getting everything from the grocery store.
Faroe Islanders live a somewhat subsistence lifestyle and whale meat and oil is critical to them.
My daughter has a friend who lives there. It seems like an absolutely beautiful area.
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