Buffalo Eddy is the name of a section of the Snake River
where the river takes several sharp turns.
However, the most fascinating part of the area is not the river: it is
the collection of petroglyphs found on either side of the river. These
petroglyphs were left there perhaps even 4500 years ago by the Nez Perce.
The petroglyphs show a number of different kinds of
pictures. Some are of people or
animals, while others are more abstract. According to a sign at the site, we
don’t know for certain why the petroglyphs were carved. Probably, as the sign suggests, the site
held some spiritual significance.
As the National Parks page about the site tells us, the
petroglyphs are dated by looking at what the subject matter is. Just like we
know that a painting from Western society containing a car or train could not
have been made before the invention of those vehicles, we can tell that petroglyphs
containing images of inventions that the Native Americans created could not
have been made before those things were used.
There are also a few pictographs on the site. Pictographs
are paintings or drawings, as opposed to petroglyphs, which are carvings. The
pictographs can be dated using chemistry, by analyzing the pigments used in
them, as the National Parks page once again tells us.
This is one site that you’ll have to leave North Central
Idaho and go into Washington to see. There are petroglyphs on the Idaho side of
the river, but this side is closed to the public. The Washington side, however,
is not far from Asotin and is right by the highway.
Buffalo Eddy is one of the sites that make up the Nez
Perce National Historical Park. Some of
the other sites include the Heart of the Monster and the Whitebird Battlefield,
which I have also written posts about.