Examples of Clovis points. Not all Clovis points. The second is a Cumberland point and the fourth is a Barnes point, important markers of later archaeological cultures.

Clovis points are the oldest projectile points associated with the North American Clovis culture. They date to the Paleo-Indian period around 13,500 years ago. They are named after the town of Clovis, New Mexico, where the first examples were found in 1932. They have been found within the remains of ice age animals. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is considered orphaned, since there are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... In archaeology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted and used either as knife or projectile tip or both. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... The Clovis culture (also Llano culture) is a prehistoric Native American culture that first appears in the archaeological record of North America around 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. ... Paleo-Indians is an English term used to refer to the ancient peoples of America who were present at the end of the last Ice Age. ... Clovis, New Mexico is a small city in Curry County, New Mexico, United States, with a population of approximately 32,700 (2000 census). ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ...

The points are thin, fluted projectile objects created from bifacially percussion flaking and later, sometimes finished with smaller pressure flake pressure flaking removals around the edges on flint, chert or other materials. Clovis points have a concave groove running longitudinally along them which archaeologists think permitted them to be fastened (hafted) to wooden spears, or short shafts which were then mounted into sockets on heavier spear shafts. This provided for reloadable spears, of which, there is NO archaeological evidence during Clovis. The spear could be thrown by hand or with the aid of the atlatl, or spearthrower. In lithic reduction, pressure flaking is a method of trimming the edge of a stone tool by removing small lithic flakes by pressing on the stone with a sharp instrument rather than striking it with a percussor. ... Chert Chert (IPA: ) is a fine-grained silica-rich cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. ... Hafting is a process by which an artifact, often bone, metal, or stone, is attached to a handle or strap. ... Hunting spear and knife, from Mesa Verde National Park. ... An atlatl (from Nahuatl ahtlatl ; in English pronounced [1] or [2]) or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in spear-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to temporarily store energy during the throw. ...

They have been found over most of North America and as far south as Panama. Significant Clovis finds include the Anzick site in Montana; the Colby site in Wyoming; the Simon site in Idaho; the East Wenatchee Clovis Site in Washington; and the Fenn cache, which came to light in private hands in 1989 and whose place of discovery is unknown. The East Wenatchee Clovis Site (also called the Richey-Roberts Clovis Site or the Richey Clovis Cache) is a deposit of prehistoric Clovis points and other implements, dating to roughly 11,000 years before present, found near the city of East Wenatchee, Washington in 1987. ...

Whether Clovis points were devised in the Americas and evolved from a pre-Clovis society or came there through influences from elsewhere is a contentious issue amongst archaeologists. However, at this time, Clovis points appeared in the New World, with no forerunner to its lithic knowledge in the Old World. In the sequence of North American cultural stages first proposed by Gordon Willey and Phillip Phillips in 1958, the Lithic Stage was the earliest period of human occupation in the Americas, covering the earliest, Pleistocene period. ...

Around 10,000 BCE, there was a new type of fluted projectile points called Folsom. “Era Vulgaris” redirects here. ... Folsom points are a distinct form of chipped stone projectile points associated with the Folsom Tradition of North America. ...

Besides its function as a tool, Clovis technology became a lithic symbol of a highly mobile culture who exploited faunal resources during the Pleistocene. As Clovis technology expanded, there could be a possible relationship with resources, as it being a contributor to the extinction of megafaunal resources. Clovis technology has also proven to have a significant role in determining when the earliest colonists ventured into North America. The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) on the geologic timescale is the period from 1,808,000 to 11,550 years BP. The Pleistocene epoch had been intended to cover the worlds recent period of repeated glaciations. ...

There are two different opinions about how the Clovis point first came to be. The first is that there were Pre-Clovis people in the New World whose roots were made in the Middle Paleolithic and Clovis traditions in which were developed from them. The other opinion is that the first inhabitants in the New World were the Clovis from the Upper Paleolithic who reverted back to the flake technology. Both of these opinions mean that the Clovis point was developed in the New World, but the pre-Clovis opinion requires that a very early entry into the New World was formed, the Clovis opinion does not show this. At this time, there have been no Clovis points found in the Old World or in Alaska. However, the Solutrean hypothesis suggests that Clovis Culture developed from the similar Solutrean of southwestern Europe, and that the technology may have been brought to America through migration along the Atlantic pack ice edge using survival skills similar to that of modern Inuit people. The Solutrean hypothesis contends that stone tool technology of the Solutrean culture in prehistoric Europe may have later influenced the development of the Clovis tool-making culture in the Americas. ... The Clovis culture (also Llano culture) is a prehistoric Native American culture that first appears in the archaeological record of North America around 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. ... The Solutrean industry was an advanced flint tool making style of the Upper Palaeolithic. ... For other uses, see Inuit (disambiguation). ...

References

External links

• Informative page on Clovis Points, with photos