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Clovis points are the characteristically fluted projectile points associated with the New World Clovis culture,a prehistoric Paleo-American culture. They are present in dense concentrations across much of North America and they are largely restricted to the north of South America. There are slight differences in points found in the Eastern United States bringing them to sometimes be called "Clovis-like". Clovis points date to the Early Paleoindian period,with all known points dating from roughly 13,400–12,700 years ago. As an example,Clovis remains at the Murry Springs Site date to around 12,900 calendar years ago. Clovis fluted points are named after the city of Clovis,New Mexico,where examples were first found in 1929 by Ridgely Whiteman.
The Clovis culture is an archaeological culture from the Paleoindian period of North America,spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years Before Present. The type site is Blackwater Draw locality No. 1 near Clovis,New Mexico,where stone tools were found alongside the remains of Columbian mammoths in 1929. Clovis sites have been found across North America. The most distinctive part of the Clovis culture toolkit are Clovis points,which are projectile points with a fluted,lanceolate shape. Clovis points are typically large,sometimes exceeding 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in length. These points were multifunctional,also serving as cutting tools. Other stone tools used by the Clovis culture include knives,scrapers and bifacial tools,with bone tools including beveled rods and shaft wrenches,with possible ivory points also being identified. Hides,wood,and natural fibres may also have been heavily utilized,though no direct evidence of this has been preserved. Clovis artifacts are often found grouped together in caches where they had been stored for later retrieval,and over 20 Clovis caches have been identified.
Topper is an archaeological site located along the Savannah River in Allendale County,South Carolina,United States. It is noted as a location of artifacts which some archaeologists believe to indicate human habitation of the New World earlier than the Clovis culture. The latter were previously believed to be the first people in North America.
Archaeologists define a chopper as a pebble tool with an irregular cutting edge formed through the removal of flakes from one side of a stone.
The Meadowcroft Rockshelter is an archaeological site which is located near Avella in Jefferson Township,Pennsylvania. The site is a rock shelter in a bluff overlooking Cross Creek,and contains evidence that the area may have been continually inhabited for more than 19,000 years. If accurately dated,it would be one of the earliest known sites with evidence of a human presence and continuous human occupation in the New World.
The Page–Ladson archaeological and paleontological site (8JE591) is a deep sinkhole in the bed of the karstic Aucilla River that has stratified deposits of late Pleistocene and early Holocene animal bones and human artifacts. The site was the first pre-Clovis site discovered in southeastern North America;radiocarbon evidence suggests that the site dates from 14,200 to 14,550 BP. These dates are roughly 1,000 to 1,500 years before the advent of the Clovis culture. Early dates for Page–Ladson challenge theories that humans quickly decimated large game populations in the area once they arrived.
The Aucilla River rises in Brooks County,Georgia,USA,close to Thomasville,and passes through the Big Bend region of Florida,emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachee Bay. Some early maps called it the Ocilla River. It is 89 miles (143 km) long and has a drainage basin of 747 square miles (1,930 km2). Tributaries include the Little Aucilla and Wacissa Rivers. In Florida,the Aucilla River forms the eastern border of Jefferson County,separating it from Madison County on the northern part,and from Taylor County to the south.
James M. Adovasio is an American archaeologist and one of the foremost experts in perishable artifacts. He was formerly the Provost,Dean of the Zurn School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics,and Director of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute at Mercyhurst University in Erie,Pennsylvania,Adovasio is best known for his work at Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania and for his subsequent role in the "Clovis First" debate. He has published nearly 400 books,monographs,articles,and papers in his field.
The Ake Site is a name for a prehistoric archaeological location near the town of Datil in the San Augustine Basin of Catron County,New Mexico,United States. It was listed on the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties in 1975,and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Ake Site is particularly important for the age and length of its use by prehistoric peoples. It has been dated during the Clovis period between 10,999 BC and 8000 BC,and during the Folsom period between 7999 BC and 5999 BC,making it among the oldest sites in the American Southwest.
The Manis Mastodon site is a 2-acre (1 ha) archaeological site on the Olympic Peninsula near Sequim,Washington,United States,discovered in 1977. During the 1977-78 excavation,the remains of an American mastodon were recovered with a 13,800-year-old projectile point made of the bone from a different mastodon embedded in its rib. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Frank Cumming Hibben was a well-known archaeologist whose research focused on the U.S. Southwest. As a professor at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and writer of popular books and articles,he inspired many people to study archaeology. He was also controversial,being suspected of scientific fraud during his studies of Paleo-Indian cultures.
The Naco Mammoth Kill Site is an archaeological site in southeast Arizona,1 mile northwest of Naco in Cochise County. The site was reported to the Arizona State Museum in September 1951 by Marc Navarrete,a local resident,after his father found two Clovis points in Greenbush Draw,while digging out the fossil bones of a mammoth. Emil Haury excavated the Naco mammoth site in April 1952. In only five days,Haury recovered the remains of a Columbian Mammoth in association with 8 Clovis points. The excavator believed the assemblage to date from about 10,000 Before Present. An additional point was found in the arroyo upstream. The Naco site was the first Clovis mammoth kill association to be identified. An additional,unpublished,second excavation occurred in 1953 which doubled the area of the original work and found bones from a 2nd mammoth. In 2020,small charcoal fragments were found adhered to a mammoth bone from the site. AMS radiocarbon dating produced a mean date of 10,985 ± 56 Before Present.
Caleb Vance Haynes Jr.,known as Vance Haynes or C. Vance Haynes Jr.,is an archaeologist,geologist and author who specializes in the archaeology of the American Southwest. Haynes "revolutionized the fields of geoarchaeology and archaeological geology." He is known for unearthing and studying artifacts of Paleo-Indians including ones from Sandia Cave in the 1960s,work which helped to establish the timeline of human migration through North America. Haynes coined the term "black mat" for a layer of 10,000-year-old swamp soil seen in many North American archaeological studies.
The Buttermilk Creek complex is the remains of a paleolithic settlement along the shores of Buttermilk Creek in present-day Salado,Texas. The assemblage dates to ~13.2 to 15.5 thousand years old. If confirmed,the site represents evidence of human settlement in the Americas that pre-dates the Clovis culture.
Vance T. Holliday is a professor in the School of Anthropology and the department of Geosciences as well as an adjunct professor in the department of Geography at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Lamb Spring is a pre-Clovis prehistoric Paleo-Indian archaeological site located in Douglas County,Colorado with the largest collection of Columbian mammoth bones in the state. Lamb Spring also provides evidence of Paleo-Indian hunting in a later period by the Cody culture complex group. Lamb Spring was listed in 1997 on the National Register of Historic Places.
John Bertram Broster is an American archaeologist formerly serving as the Prehistoric Archeological Supervisor at the Tennessee Division of Archaeology,Department of Environment and Conservation. He is best known for his work on the Paleoindian period of the American Southwest and Southeast,and has published some 38 book chapters and journal articles on the subject.
The Gault archaeological site is an extensive,multicomponent site located in Florence,Texas,United States on the Williamson-Bell County line along Buttermilk Creek about 250 meters upstream from the Buttermilk Creek complex. It bears evidence of human habitation for at least 20,000 years,making it one of the few archaeological sites in the Americas at which compelling evidence has been found for human occupation dating to before the appearance of the Clovis culture. Archaeological material covers about 16 hectares with a depth of up to 3 meters in places. About 30 incised stones from the Clovis period engraved with geometric patterns were found there as well as others from periods up to the Early Archaic. Incised bone was also found.
Rolfe D. Mandel is a Distinguished Professor of archaeology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas as well as Senior Scientist and Executive Director of the Odyssey Geoarchaeological Research Program at the Kansas Geological Survey. Initially trained as a geographer,he has been a major figure in defining the subdiscipline of geoarchaeology and has spent the last thirty years focusing on the effects of geologic processes on the archaeological record. His primary research interests include geoarchaeology,Quaternary soils,geology,paleoecology,and paleoenvironmental reconstruction in the Great Plains region of the United States as well as the Mediterranean. Over the years,Mandel has participated in numerous research projects and has served as an editor to multiple journals and a book. His work has been key in promoting an interdisciplinary approach in archaeology,geology,and geography.
The theory known as "Clovis First" was the predominant hypothesis among archaeologists in the second half of the 20th century to explain the peopling of the Americas. According to Clovis First,the people associated with the Clovis culture were the first inhabitants of the Americas. This hypothesis came to be challenged by ongoing studies that suggest pre-Clovis human occupation of the Americas. In 2011,following the excavation of an occupation site at Buttermilk Creek,Texas,a group of scientists identified the existence "of an occupation older than Clovis." At the site in Buttermilk,archaeologists discovered evidence of hunter-gatherer group living and the making of projectile spear points,blades,choppers,and other stone tools. The tools found were made from a local chert and could be dated back to as early as 15,000 years ago.
References
- 1 2 "Dr. Michael R. Waters." Geography Profile. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- 1 2 "Dr. Michael R. Waters." Department of Anthropology. Texas A&M, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
- ↑ "VITA - MICHAEL R. WATERS" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04.
- ↑ Waters, M. R., et al, 2009, “The Buttermilk Creek Complex and the Origins of Clovis at the Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas.” Science, v. 331, p. 1599-1603.
- ↑ "Texas Find Suggests Earlier Settlers in N. America." The Washington Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- ↑ "The North Star Archaeological Research Program." Center for the Study of the First Americans. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- 1 2 Waters, M. R., Stafford, T. W., McDonald, H. G., Gustafson, C., Rasmussen, M., Cappellini, E., Olsen, J. V., Szklarczyk, D., Jensen, L. J., Gilbert, M. T. P., and Willerslev, E., 2011, ‘Pre-Clovis mastodon hunting 13,800 years ago at the Manis site, Washington.” Science, v. 334, p. 351-353.
- ↑ "The Geological Society of America - Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award." The Geological Society of America - Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- ↑ ""QG&G Awards KBA." QG&G Awards KBA. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012". Archived from the original on 2016-06-21. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
- "Dr. Michael R. Waters." Geography Profile. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- "Dr. Michael R. Waters." Department of Anthropology. Texas A&M, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
- "The Geological Society of America - Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award." The Geological Society of America - Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- "QG&G Awards KBA." QG&G Awards KBA. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- Waters, M. R., et al., 2009, “The Buttermilk Creek Complex and the Origins of Clovis at the Debra L. Friedkin Site, Texas.” Science, v. 331, p. 1599-1603.
- "Texas Find Suggests Earlier Settlers in N. America." The Washington Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- "The North Star Archaeological Research Program." Center for the Study of the First Americans. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
- Waters, M. R., Stafford, T. W., McDonald, H. G., Gustafson, C., Rasmussen, M., Cappellini, E., Olsen, J. V., Szklarczyk, D., Jensen, L. J., Gilbert, M. T. P., and Willerslev, E., 2011, ‘Pre-Clovis mastodon hunting 13,800 years ago at the Manis site, Washington.” Science, v. 334, p. 351-353.
