What is a Clovis fluted point?
Clovis fluted points are named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico, where examples were first found in 1929 by Ridgely Whiteman. A typical Clovis point is a medium to large lanceolate point. Sides are parallel to convex, and exhibit careful pressure flaking along the blade edge. The broadest area is near the midsection or toward the base.
What tools did the Clovis use?
A hallmark of the toolkit associated with the Clovis culture is the distinctively shaped, fluted-stone spear point, known as the Clovis point. The Clovis point is bifacial and typically fluted on both sides. Clovis tools were produced during a roughly 300 year period.
What is a Clovis point made of?
The Clovis points are large, fluted (grooved), and are made of chert or more common stones. They are a distinctive type of technology that was replaced more than once before contact with Europeans. Clovis points are one to six inches long and much thinner.
What is the difference between Clovis and Folsom arrowheads?
Clovis arrowheads are generally the largest when compared to Folsom and Dalton type of points. Clovis arrowheads are fluted (leaf like furrows in the central part of the base). Folsom and Dalton also contains flutes but with Clovis, the flutes are extended from the base up to about one third to halfway of the entire point.
What does fluted mean On arrowheads?
Fluting is a specific technique that involves the extraction of an elongated flake along the length of a projectile point, leaving a distinctive groove or depression at the base of the spearhead or arrowhead.
Are Clovis points fluted on both sides?
Both faces of a Clovis point were often fluted in the final stages of manufacture. In technological terms, this is a percussion biface thinning flake struck from the base. These flute flakes usually extend about one-third of the length of the point. The point bases were thinned for hafting.
What does fluted point mean?
Fluted points are quite rare in the Colorado archaeological record, but their importance to understanding the people of the New World is fundamental. The “flute” of a fluted point is the groovelike flaking scar intentionally created by a flintknapper by removing a flake from the base of a spear point.
What were fluted points used for?
In North America, the aim of fluting is to thin the bifacial piece, and more specifically, to produce a hafting zone on both faces of the piece, the obtained product of which is often used as a projectile point, such as an arrowhead, dart or spear tip [2].
Where are most Clovis points found?
points found in the Clovis archaeological site, located near Clovis, New Mexico, originated in Beringia and were carried south as people migrated.
How much is a Clovis point worth?
Star of the auction, the Rutz Clovis Point, sea green obsidian, 9¾ in, discovered by Les Ira Kreis in the early 1950s in a wheat field on Badger Mountain, near the community of Badger Creek Springs, Washington. Sold for $276,000.
Are all Clovis points fluted?
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.
What is the difference between Clovis and Folsom?
Clovis points, which were made early in the Paleoindian period, have been found throughout North America, most often associated with the bones of mammoths. Folsom points were made later, and they are found mostly in the central and western parts of the continent, often in association with the bones of bison.
How can you tell a Clovis point?
Clovis arrowheads have concave base and convex sides. The broadest areas for Clovis arrowheads are situated either in the near midsection or toward the base of the point. Clovis arrowheads are usually crafted out of stone or chert. Clovis arrowheads have typical slender blades and have parallel curved edges.
How old is the average Arrowhead?
Making and Fitting an Arrowhead Arrowheads can be as much as 14,000 years old, and when someone today finds one, it's likely that he or she is the first person since the original maker to touch it!
What is fluting technique?
Fluting: The technique of Mesolithic blade production is broadly termed as fluting. This term literally means the semi-cylindrical vertical grooves in pillars. And since a fluted core resembles such pillars the technique is termed fluting. The technique involves the preparation of a core as the first step.
Are all Clovis points fluted?
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.
How can you tell a Clovis point?
Clovis arrowheads have concave base and convex sides. The broadest areas for Clovis arrowheads are situated either in the near midsection or toward the base of the point. Clovis arrowheads are usually crafted out of stone or chert. Clovis arrowheads have typical slender blades and have parallel curved edges.
How do you identify a Clovis point?
Clovis points are wholly distinctive. Chipped from jasper, chert, obsidian and other fine, brittle stone, they have a lance-shaped tip and (sometimes) wickedly sharp edges. Extending from the base toward the tips are shallow, concave grooves called “flutes” that may have helped the points be inserted into spear shafts.
What is the difference between Clovis and Folsom?
Clovis points, which were made early in the Paleoindian period, have been found throughout North America, most often associated with the bones of mammoths. Folsom points were made later, and they are found mostly in the central and western parts of the continent, often in association with the bones of bison.
Why are Clovis points so popular?
Clovis points are easily recognized because of their large size, their exquisite craftsmanship, and the beautiful stones toolmakers chose for them. Although there are regional differences in style, the technology for making the points is the same.
What did Clovis knappers do to preserve the flute scars?
Clovis knappers took care to preserve the flute scars, and did not pressure flake across them if they could help it. The final step was the heavy grinding to margins of the base. This was done to all finished points, and is a good indicator that the maker considered the point to be finished.
Where is Clovis Point in Arizona?
This Clovis point from Naco , Arizona, is quite thick. It has extensive pressure flaking across its surfaces. This seems common among points found at the Naco , Murray Springs, and Lehner mammoth kill sites. These sites are all from the same area along the San Pedro River in southern Arizona.
How long is a Clovis point?
Clovis points range in size. At the time of manufacture, the average Clovis point was probably about 4 to 5 inches long. The vast majority of these points were broken when they were used, however, and re-sharpened if possible.
What is the black line on a flute?
The point bases were thinned for hafting. The basal margins are heavily ground to about the length of the flutes. The black line outside the point indicate s the ground area.
What is the right side of a flake?
The right side of the flake is the opposite side of the flake edge removed when the flake went across the biface. Pressure Flakes. The purple flakes are pressure flakes from the final finishing work on the point. Some points show very little pressure flaking, and others show much more extensive pressure flaking.
What are Clovis weapons?
Specifically, they study stone projectile points, such as arrowheads and spear points, made by flint knapping, the ancient practice of chipping away at the edges of rocks to shape them into weapons and tools.
How long did the Clovis hunter survive?
Approximately 13,500 years after nomadic Clovis hunters crossed the frozen land bridge from Asia to North America, researchers are still asking questions and putting together clues as to how they not only survived in a new landscape with unique new challenges but adapted with stone tools and weapons to thrive for thousands of years.
What is the fluted part of a clovis?
Clovis arrowheads are fluted (leaf like furrows in the central part of the base). Folsom and Dalton also contains flutes but with Clovis, the flutes are extended from the base up to about one third to halfway of the entire point.
What is a clovis arrowhead?
Clovis arrowheads have concave base and convex sides. The broadest areas for Clovis arrowheads are situated either in the near midsection or toward the base of the point. Clovis arrowheads are usually crafted out of stone or chert. Clovis arrowheads have typical slender blades and have parallel curved edges. With the above mentioned identifying ...
Where did the Clovis Arrowheads live?
Most of them did not like farming and lived as nomadic hunters and foragers. They inhabited most of the areas near the riverbeds where they had the constant supply of water and food.
Is a Clovis arrowhead the same as a Folsom arrowhead?
This task can be difficult for collectors especially if they are not experts because Clovis arrowheads can be similar to Folsom and Dalton point types. Even so, I will enumerate the identifying characteristics of Clovis arrowheads to make the task easier for you. Clovis arrowheads are generally the largest when compared to Folsom and Dalton type ...
What are the cultures that follow Clovis?
Post-Clovis cultures include the Folsom tradition, Gainey, Suwannee-Simpson, Plainview - Goshen, Cumberland, and Redstone. Each of these is thought to derive directly from Clovis, in some cases apparently differing only in the length of the fluting on their projectile points.
What is the Clovis point?
A hallmark of the toolkit associated with the Clovis culture is the distinctively shaped, fluted-stone spear point, known as the Clovis point. The Clovis point is bifacial and typically fluted on both sides. Clovis tools were produced during a roughly 300 year period.
What was the first human settlement in the Americas?
Known as "Clovis First", the predominant hypothesis among archaeologists in the latter half of the 20th century had been that the people associated with the Clovis culture were the first inhabitants of the Americas. The primary support for this was that no solid evidence of pre-Clovis human habitation had been found. According to the standard accepted theory, the Clovis people crossed the Beringia land bridge over the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska during the period of lowered sea levels during the ice age, then made their way southward through an ice-free corridor east of the Rocky Mountains in present-day Western Canada as the glaciers retreated.
What was the end of the Clovis culture?
The most commonly held perspective on the end of the Clovis culture is that a decline in the availability of megafauna, combined with an overall increase in a less mobile population, led to local differentiation of lithic and cultural traditions across the Americas. After this time, Clovis-style fluted points were replaced by other fluted-point traditions (such as the Folsom culture) with an essentially uninterrupted sequence across North and Central America. An effectively continuous cultural adaptation proceeds from the Clovis period through the ensuing Middle and Late Paleoindian periods.
What animals did the Clovis people hunt?
Clovis people are generally accepted to have hunted mammoths, as well as extinct bison, mastodon, gomphotheres, sloths, tapir, camelops, horse, and other smaller animals. More than 125 species of plants and animals are known to have been used by Clovis people in the portion of the Western Hemisphere they inhabited.
How many stone points were found in the Clovis?
The in situ finds of 1936 and 1937 included most of four stone Clovis points, two long bone points with impact damage, stone blades, a portion of a Clovis blade core, and several cutting tools made on stone flakes.
When was Clovis Point excavated?
The in situ Clovis point from Burnet Cave was excavated in late August, 1931 (and reported early in 1932). E. B. Howard brought the Burnet Cave point to the 3rd Pecos Conference, September 1931, and showed it around to several archaeologists interested in early humans (see Woodbury 1983).
How many Clovis points are there?
Many Clovis points have been found over the decades since they were first identified as a distinct arrowhead type in 1932. People possess at least 10,000 Clovis points in total. While people have more than a few of them, they are still rare enough to be expensive.
When were Folsom points discovered?
Folsom points replaced Clovis points and were used from 9500 BC to 8000 BC. When they were first discovered in the 1920s, archeologists were surprised that such ancient points existed in the Americas. Many people had assumed that the Americas had not been inhabited that long ago.
How much are Folsom points worth?
Like Clovis points, Folsom points can also be worth thousands of dollars. Large Folsom points found in New Mexico are currently worth $4000 or not much less than that. The prices are all over the place, with a few thousand dollars for a large point in good condition being very roughly a normal price.
Is a Clovis arrowhead a arrowhead?
Therefore, probably no Clovis "arrowheads" are truly arrowheads. The Clovis points are large, fluted (grooved), and are made of chert or more common stones. They are a distinctive type of technology that was replaced more than once before contact with Europeans. Clovis points are one to six inches long and much thinner.
Do Clovis points have grooves?
Many people had assumed that the Americas had not been inhabited that long ago. While Clovis points only have grooves running along a small part of the spear point, Folsom points have grooves all the way from the base to the tip. The grooves may have helped attach the point to the wooden shaft.
