Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get tool plans

User Tag List

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 13

Thread: Bison skull pile - photo

  1. #1
    Supporting Member Altair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    12,020
    Thanks
    1,365
    Thanked 30,300 Times in 9,998 Posts

    Bison skull pile - photo

    Bison skull pile, c. 1892.

    Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...r_fullsize.jpg



    Previously:

    Tagging a bison - photo

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Altair For This Useful Post:

    nova_robotics (Dec 25, 2023)

  3. #2
    Supporting Member odd one's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    WNC
    Posts
    386
    Thanks
    639
    Thanked 125 Times in 90 Posts

    odd one's Tools
    That is just sad. No wonder they darn near went extinct. At least they are all in one place which indicates that they MAY have been processed and not just shot for sport. I've shot my fair amount of game, but this just seemed like another way (planned or not) to F over the Native Americans.

    2,000+ Tool Plans

  4. #3
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,347
    Thanks
    11,137
    Thanked 1,219 Times in 664 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    A few years ago a buddy of mine broke into the catacombs under Paris and was sending me pictures. It was basically this, but with human skulls. The pictures she sent me do not look anything like the carefully curated pictures you see online where everything is neatly stacked. It was just a big pile of bones.

    Last edited by Jon; Dec 26, 2023 at 04:04 PM. Reason: Editing youtube url syntax

  5. #4
    Supporting Member Duke_of_URL's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    398
    Thanks
    527
    Thanked 158 Times in 109 Posts
    Actually, Native Americans, before gaining access to repeating rifles, would drive entire herds of Bison over cliffs, killing massive quantities at one time, which was far more efficient for them than hunting with bow & arrow and knife.

  6. #5
    WmRMeyers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    885
    Thanks
    405
    Thanked 371 Times in 254 Posts

    WmRMeyers's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by odd one View Post
    That is just sad. No wonder they darn near went extinct. At least they are all in one place which indicates that they MAY have been processed and not just shot for sport. I've shot my fair amount of game, but this just seemed like another way (planned or not) to F over the Native Americans.
    It was planned. The idea was to force them to live on the reservation land, and not move around following the buffalo herds. The mantra was "Kill the Indian and save the man." Once upon a time, I wanted to teach social studies, particularly history. And I took quite a bit more American History than the requirements for the degree in Social Studies, Secondary Education.

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to WmRMeyers For This Useful Post:

    mwmkravchenko (Dec 29, 2023)

  8. #6
    WmRMeyers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    885
    Thanks
    405
    Thanked 371 Times in 254 Posts

    WmRMeyers's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by Duke_of_URL View Post
    Actually, Native Americans, before gaining access to repeating rifles, would drive entire herds of Bison over cliffs, killing massive quantities at one time, which was far more efficient for them than hunting with bow & arrow and knife.
    I don't know if those folks count as American Indians. Some of those mass buffalo kill sites have Clovis points embedded in some of the buffalo bones. Those are 10-13,000 years old. Paleo-Indians they were called, and I don't know that any of their descendants are still around. Never mind that. There's apparently a Clovis burial that does link them to modern American Indians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_culture It's been a little while since I last took a class or read a book on the subject.

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to WmRMeyers For This Useful Post:

    mwmkravchenko (Dec 29, 2023)

  10. #7
    Supporting Member BuffaloJohn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Oregon, USA
    Posts
    848
    Thanks
    309
    Thanked 438 Times in 261 Posts

    BuffaloJohn's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by Duke_of_URL View Post
    Actually, Native Americans, before gaining access to repeating rifles, would drive entire herds of Bison over cliffs, killing massive quantities at one time, which was far more efficient for them than hunting with bow & arrow and knife.
    Until they had horses, they couldn't use arrows or spears effectively enough, and also it was quite dangerous once the herd got moving.

  11. #8
    Supporting Member BuffaloJohn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Oregon, USA
    Posts
    848
    Thanks
    309
    Thanked 438 Times in 261 Posts

    BuffaloJohn's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by WmRMeyers View Post
    I don't know if those folks count as American Indians.
    Yes they did, well documented up to the time of horses, they could could best use buffalo jumps to kill the animals.

  12. #9
    Supporting Member BuffaloJohn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Oregon, USA
    Posts
    848
    Thanks
    309
    Thanked 438 Times in 261 Posts

    BuffaloJohn's Tools
    There is this idylic view of the native americans, but they practiced slavery, warred with their neighbors, burned the prairies to drive animals and people away, and on and on...

    My favorite story to tell is that some tribes believed that if they came across a herd, that they would have to kill all the animals so that a herd would return to the area the next year. Why kill them all? Because if they left survivors, those would tell the others not to come that way in the future, so all must die.

    I raised bison for over 2 decades, did quite a bit of reading up on history, lore, stories, etc...

  13. #10
    Supporting Member BuffaloJohn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Oregon, USA
    Posts
    848
    Thanks
    309
    Thanked 438 Times in 261 Posts

    BuffaloJohn's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by odd one View Post
    That is just sad. No wonder they darn near went extinct. At least they are all in one place which indicates that they MAY have been processed and not just shot for sport. I've shot my fair amount of game, but this just seemed like another way (planned or not) to F over the Native Americans.
    You have to realize that these skulls and bones were harvested to be processed into bonemeal, and that this was a place where they were to be loaded onto railcars for transport for grinding.

  14. The Following User Says Thank You to BuffaloJohn For This Useful Post:

    mwmkravchenko (Dec 29, 2023)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •