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One of the new exhibits is a reproduction of a “buffalo box”. Native Americans used the buffalo box to carry the various parts of the buffalo that were used in everyday life. These might include a pliable and soft buffalo hide tanned with brains, untanned hide that became rawhide, ropes made of braided buffalo wool, rattles made of buffalo dew claws, and water containers made of the buffalo bladder. The box might contain the hollow horn of the male buffalo used as a spoon, sinew taken from the back used as thread after it was pulled apart, a rib bone used as an awl, and rib bones to scrape the fur off the hide and to straighten arrows. Or it might contain dew claws, teeth, and porcupine quills used to adorn costumes. The box and its contents were constructed and assembled by Larry Belitz in South Dakota who is an expert at creating replicas of Native American artifacts. The buffalo box was donated to the museum by Terry Sandstrom of Wheatland.
