Clovis (Other Keyword)
1-25 (26 Records)
When humans first colonized the Americas is becoming better understood by the addition of aDNA studies; however, the absolute dating of these late Pleistocene sites is crucial and depends upon accurate 14C dating of the fossils (i.e. bones, teeth and ivory). We re-dated vertebrate fossils associated with the North American butchering sites Wally’s Beach (Canada), La Prele, also known as Fetterman (Wyoming), Lindsay (Montana) and Dent (Colorado). Our work demonstrates the crucial importance of...
Anzick Site Lithics: A Study of Concave Margin Scrapers as an Integral Part of the Clovis Tool Kit (2015)
An assemblage of lithic and osseous artifacts, associated with the fragmentary remains of a child was discovered in Montana at the Anzick Site (24PA506). The remains and assemblage, all covered with red ochre, are thought to represent the only known burial from the Clovis Culture. Found on several lithic artifacts in the assemblage are unique flaking patterns which form "margin scrapers", possibly utilized as an integral part of an osseous tool crafting technology overlooked in western Clovis...
Archaeological Investigation of the Stone Feature Located at Area 12, Gault Site Bell County, Texas (2015)
A 2x2 meter fractured limestone cobble surface was excavated in February of 2001 through May of 2002 at the Gault Site in Bell County, Texas dating to either the Clovis or pre-Clovis period. Current research indicates two toss zones associated to the 10-centimeter thick stone floor. One toss zone is illustrated through the faunal assemblage arcing around the southwestern corner of the feature and the second toss zone is associated to lithic artifacts concentrated around the northeastern corner....
The Archaeology of Clovis Landscape Use at the Mockingbird Gap site, New Mexico and Surrounding Regions (2016)
In this paper we discuss recent work at the Mockingbird Gap Clovis site, New Mexico, and the surrounding region, designed to understand how Clovis hunter-gatherers utilized and adapted to the regional landscape and its available resources. Focusing on lithic raw material use, we show that the Clovis occupants of Mockingbird Gap had access to a wide diversity of high quality raw materials from a large area of the Southwest. Moreover, Clovis raw material network analysis across the continent...
Assessment of lateral edge grinding on hafting performance using experimental Clovis points (2017)
In the 1930s, F. H. H. Roberts proposed that lateral basal grinding was executed on Paleoindian projectile points to limit damage to the lashings that attached them to their shafts. This assumption is logical and widely accepted, but remains empirically untested. Here, we present an experiment that examines the role of lateral basal grinding in replica Clovis projectile points made of Texas chert. We compare via controlled ballistics experiments large samples of points with lateral edge grinding...
Clovis and Folsom from the Central Plains: Projectile point breakage, distributions, and material types as indicators of prehistoric land use and subsistence strategies (2016)
Clovis and Folsom artifact distributions, particularly projectile points, are not homogenous throughout the Central Plains. Uneven artifact distributions are in part attributed to diverse land use and hunting techniques that resulted in distinct artifact breakage patterns. Lithic material use and transportation is also unique. These differences are partially driven by changing ecosystems during the terminal Pleistocene. Models of Clovis and Folsom land use are explored to account for the...
Clovis knapping behaviors: What were they thinking!? (2016)
Clovis biface manufacturing represents a complex flaked stone reduction technology (Bradley, et al. 2010:64) where extant evidence has established that Clovis knappers possessed a high degree of skill in their craft. Most Clovis behaviors have been gleaned from data-rich Clovis caches and kill-sites. However, quantitative data is limited on Clovis flaked stone debris, and thus, remains an open research issue. One issue raised is the careful preparation of striking platforms during biface and...
The Clovis Lithic Component of Fin del Mundo, Sonora, Mexico. (2016)
Fin del Mundo is a Clovis site located in the north-central portion of the state of Sonora, northwestern Mexico. The site comprises multiple localities including a buried kill of two gomphotheres (cuvieronius sp.), a Clovis camp and raw material procurement areas. The Clovis lithic component at the site consists of Clovis points, Clovis point preforms, bifaces, unifacial tools and a blade industry. The tool types suggest that Fin del Mundo was occupied for a long time span, possibly during...
The Clovis Lithic Technology at El Fin del Mundo: Early Paleoindian Mobility and Land Use Patterns in North-Central Sonora, Mexico (2017)
Clovis populations are thought to have been wide ranging, highly mobile foragers, as reflected in stone tool raw material procurement patterns and technological features of associated lithic assemblages. Intense utilization of high quality non-local cryptocrystalline raw materials, heavy stone tool refurbishing and repair strategies, and a lithic industry based on bifacial reduction are main features of the Clovis lithic technological organization suggestive of high mobility. In north-central...
Clovis Points Were Likely Knives: An Evaluation of the Evidence (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Clovis projectile point attached to the end of a spear or dart is an iconic symbol of North America’s late Pleistocene hunter, but the point’s use is more assumed than demonstrated. We find evidence for the "point-as-projectile" inference equivocal, because that same evidence also supports "point-as-knife". We present new experimental data that demonstrate...
Clovis Style Hafted Bifaces: A Pan-Regional Perspective (2017)
Many studies have made statements about the origin and method of the spread of the Clovis style hafted biface technology, but little research of late has evaluated Clovis from a Lithic Technological Organization perspective. This study examines a sample of 695 Clovis style hafted bifaces from across North America. I analyze trends in raw material use, flute length, re-use and resharpening in Clovis style hafted bifaces from across the country. I conclude that there is much variation in the...
Clovis-Killed Mammals (2017)
Published opinion pieces about Clovis prey choices are unintentionally misleading. Over 120 individual animals from 8 extinct megafaunal species (or 12, depending upon taxonomy) were killed by Clovis people in a relatively short time span, according to conservative estimates -- and the number is even higher in some lists. The 11 Clovis sites said to have acceptable evidence for human predation on mammoths actually contain 50-53 separate individuals, some being discrete kills that should be...
Discovery Bias, Excavation Bias, Clovis Diet, and Archaeological Mythmaking (2016)
The myth of Paleoindian big-game specialization has deep roots in our field. None of these roots run deeper than for the Clovis Period, where the vision of humans armed with stone-tipped spears attacking animals the size of extinct elephants has enchanted the public and professional imaginations almost equally. But issues of differential site discovery and investigation run equally deep, and this is especially so for Clovis archaeology. Ancient archaeological sites left by mobile hunters can be...
The Emerging 13,000 to 15,000 cal yr B.P. Archaeological Record of North America South of the Continental Ice Sheets (2017)
Ruth Gruhn was an early advocate for a human presence in the Americas prior to Clovis. Gruhn and her late husband, Alan Bryan, excavated and reported on early sites in both North and South America and championed the Pacific coast as the route taken by the earliest people to reach the Americas. Their predictions have become a reality. Genetic and geological evidence is supporting a coastal migration route into the Americas. Recent discoveries at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, the Debra L....
An Examination of Variation in Hafting Configuration Among Early Paleoindian Projectile Points (2017)
In this paper I use a combination of experimental replication, microscopic use wear analysis, and morphological analysis to investigate questions about the differences in hafting technology between Clovis, Folsom, and Midland projectile points. The transition from Clovis to Folsom culture is still poorly understood, and changes in hafting technology are part of the transition. In addition, the question of why fluted (Folsom) and unfluted (Midland) projectile point forms are found in the same...
Far West Fluted Points: Variability and Trends (2018)
The CalFLUTED project has studied hundreds of Far Western fluted points allowing for a wide ranging recognition of the variability and trends in fluted point morphology, manufacturing technology, use breakage, repair and hafting techniques in the region. Conclusions are supported by study data. Discussion of the implications of those conclusions is provided.
Gomphotheres, Mastodons, and Mammoths: The Fauna from El Fin del Mundo, Sonora (2017)
El Fin del Mundo, Sonora is the only known site where Clovis artifacts have been found in association with the remains of gomphotheres (Cuvieronius sp.), dated to 11,550 ± 60 rcyBP. Analysis of the faunal remains from the site confirms the presence of two juvenile/sub-adult gomphotheres (Cuvieronius sp.) found in close association with Clovis artifacts. A second bone bed located beneath the cultural layer, dated to ≤12,180 ±40 rcyBP, contains the remains of gomphothere, mastodon, mammoth, horse,...
Le Volgu: A North American Perspective on a Biface Cache from the French Upper Paleolithic (2016)
Le Volgu consists of at least 15 exquisitely manufactured bifacial stone tools (17 were originally reported in 1874) found in Saône-et-Loire near the confluence of the Arroux and Loire Rivers, about 60 km (37 miles) west of Le Solutre, the type site for the Solutrean culture. The assemblage is interpreted as an artifact cache or ritual deposit and the artifacts themselves are considered exemplary of Solutrean bifacial technology. This paper reports the results of applying methods developed for...
Lithic Analysis from the Rainbow Forest Clovis Site (2015)
During the late Pleistocene the Rainbow Forest Playa Paleoindian site at Petrified Forest National Park was an area where Clovis people procured lithic materials and took advantage of a local riparian microenvironment. This poster presents recent research on lithic tool assemblages from the Rainbow Forest Playa site, including microwear analysis from archaeological materials and the results of replicative experiments. Results suggest that while the site was clearly used as a lithic quarry, a...
New Context from an Old Site: Collections Research on the Colby Mammoth Clovis Site (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since the first discovery of projectile points associated with mammoth remains, the iconic recreation of Clovis life has been a group of hunters stalking this multi-ton animal. However, despite nearly 100 years of research, questions remain about traditions associated with Pleistocene megafauna hunting including its frequency and importance. In the 1970s...
Of Platforms and Preparation: Clovis Blade Technology at the Gault Site (41BL323), Central Texas, USA. (2016)
The careful preparation of Clovis striking platforms is considered characteristic of the technology. Platform preparation is regarded as a critical component of many lithic reduction strategies but very few studies have specifically focused on individual platform traits. General observations regarding Clovis platforms on bifaces suggest that these platforms are well-prepared and utilize five traits; faceting, reducing, releasing, isolating, and grinding. Platform preparation in a blade...
An Overview of the Distribution of Clovis/Great Basin Concave Base Projectile Point Sites at Fort Irwin, San Bernardino County, California (2016)
Fort Irwin is a United States Army installation located approximately 37 miles northeast of Barstow, California, in the central Mojave Desert. Totaling 1,193 square miles in size, this installation has a wide variety of archaeological resources including at least four sites with recorded Clovis/Great Basin Concave Base projectile points and several isolated finds identified as Clovis points. The goal of this study, conducted by Redhorse Corporation on behalf of the Fort Irwin Cultural Resources...
Perishable Technology in the Great Lakes Region during the Late Pleistocene: Evidence from Microwear Analysis (2015)
Lithic artifacts typically dominate the assemblages of Late Pleistocene sites in North America. Paleo Crossing (33ME274), a Clovis site in northeast Ohio, provides an excellent example of this pattern. Thousands of chipped stone artifacts have been recovered at the site during surface collections and subsurface excavations. However, lithic microwear analysis on a sample of artifacts from Paleo Crossing indicates that the site’s inhabitants expended a great deal of effort on the production of...
Projectiles or Pikes? Clovis Point Attributes and Braced Weapon Use (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fluted point weaponry types and the expansion of Indigenous people across North American megafauna habitats 13,050–12,650 cal BP are considered in light of historical polearm use. Confronting megaherbivores such as Proboscidea and Bison or megacarnivores such as Arctodus, Panthera, and Smilodon with thrust or thrown spears was likely less effective than...
Quaternary Chronostratigraphy and Archaeology of Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, USA (2015)
Big Bone Lick in northern Kentucky has been a critical site in the historical development of North American Quaternary vertebrate paleontology and archaeology since the 1700s. Solid-sediment cores, stream profile excavations, vertebrate paleontology, archaeology, accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses were undertaken to address the lack of a modern study of the Quaternary chronostratigraphy and to...