11,000-year-old bison remains now kept at Blackfoot Crossing

The remains of an 11,000-year-old bison will be put on display at the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, on the Siksika First Nation. 

The skull, shoulder blades, spine and some ribs of a bison antiquus occidentalis, now an extinct species, were discovered in 1957 at the site of an abandoned strip mine near Taber.

A ceremony last week marked the specimen's move to the Siksika museum from the Badlands Historical Museum in Drumheller, where it was displayed for decades. 

"It's like a young child coming home," said Clarence Wolfleg, who participated in a welcome ceremony last week and describes himself as a grandfather in his community.

"It's the thing that gave us life all these many years … We got to honour this [animal]."

Wolfleg sang a traditional song about bison at the event to welcome the animal closer to the place where its remains were discovered, according to Blackfoot Crossing collections manager Sasheen Wright.

Wright said the historical park will make the ancient bison bones the centrepiece of a new exhibit, which will include other bison artifacts and specimens in their collections. 

"The Blackfoot people hold the bison very sacred," she said. "[They] provided pretty much everything we needed to survive, so food, tools, clothing, shelter." 

The museum is creating a collection storyline committee, which will decide how the bison specimen will be exhibited, Wright added. 

Early human-bison interaction

A stone artifact embedded in the specimen's brain case could mark the earliest evidence of human activity in Alberta, according to the museum.

The artifact and markings on the skull are believed to come from an ancient hand axe, evidence of a prehistoric bison hunt.

"It was evidence of early man," said Wright. 

"I think there is a sense of pride being that we do have the capacity to take care of a lot of these belongings."

The bison antiquus occidentalis became extinct 6,000 years ago, according to Blackfoot Crossing. 

Wolfleg believes the specimen will be a valuable learning tool to help young Siksika nation members connect with the bison stories told by elders. 

"Today's generation [lives with] a new way of learning. Going to school, going to university. When they hear the oral teachings, they'll say 'What does it look like? Where did it happen?'" he said. 

"And then we'll have the remains brought, they can say, 'Now I can equate that story to what I'm looking at.'"