Buffalo Jumps
Updated: February 3, 2026
Buffalo jumps, or pishkun, are now understood as highly organized communal hunting sites that Plains Indigenous peoples in what is now Montana used for many centuries, and they remain important cultural and archaeological places today.
Across central and western Montana, especially east of the Continental Divide, Native peoples drove bison toward natural cliffs such as those at First Peoples Buffalo Jump near Ulm and Madison Buffalo Jump near Three Forks, using long rock "drive lines" and other guides to funnel the herds to a precise drop-off. At First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park, considered one of the largest buffalo jumps in North America, the sandstone cliff stretches for about a mile and stands roughly 30 to 50 feet high, with up to 13-18 feet of compacted bison bone and processing debris below it, evidence of repeated large communal hunts. Archaeological survey and radiocarbon dating at both First Peoples and Madison Buffalo Jump show deep bone beds, drive lines, tipi rings, and other camp features, indicating that these sites were used many times over long periods rather than for single events.[web:35][web:38][web:40] Research at First Peoples Buffalo Jump suggests heavy use over at least the last 1,000-1,500 years, with some artifacts possibly reaching several thousand years in age, while Madison Buffalo Jump has yielded multiple drive lines, dense bone concentrations, and Late Prehistoric bison processing areas that help reconstruct changing hunting practices through time.
Before horses and later firearms altered hunting, these Montana buffalo jumps allowed highly coordinated groups of hunters, runners, and butchers to take many animals at once, providing meat, hides, bone, and sinew that supported mobile Plains lifeways through the year.[web:35][web:37] Today, sites such as First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park and Madison Buffalo Jump State Park are protected as state parks and historic landmarks, where visitors can walk past ancient drive lines, view the deep bone beds, and learn about the ingenuity and resilience of the Indigenous nations who developed and maintained these hunting traditions.
Updated: February 3, 2026