A Story

The introduction to this area begins with an animated telling of the Anishinaabe story of how the world came to be, with the animal world closely linked to the creator. The story is told in that language, with French and English subtitles at the bottom of the screen. 

Ancient peoples left traces of themselves behind. They crossed from the old world east into the new one. The big question is how long ago. There is evidence of them in the Americas before the last ice age ended in the remnants of the Clovis people. They may not have been the first.

Regardless of tribes, first peoples long considered themselves as having been here always as they spread throughout the Americas.

For the tribes of the Great Plains, the bison was everything in their societies.

A bison skull and spear points dating back thousands of years are found here.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta. Hunters would use the topography of the land and their own resourcefulness to drive herds of bison over the cliff. Buffalo jumps were essential to tribal survival, and the bison was seen as sacred. A model of the jump, with a video narrated by a tribal error, puts things in stark clarity.