By: Albert Goodyear
Clovis culture (11,500-10,900 BP) is well known to both archaeologists and much of the public as the earliest widespread human occupation of North America. It is recognized by the distinctive fluted bifacial stone projectile known as the Clovis point, which has been found associated with now-extinct Ice
Age animals such as mammoth and mastodon.
The so-called Clovis culture is remarkable in world prehistory due to its near
simultaneous distribution of a distinctive stone and bone technology across
virtually the entirety of what is now known as the United States. Radiocarbon
dating suggests that the Clovis culture lasted perhaps only 600 years or
possibly less. The origins of this unusual culture is just as enigmatic. Fluted points like the Clovis have not been found in adjacent continents. The fluted bifacial spear point appears unique to North America. Other related stone tools can be found in the Upper Paleolithic cultures of the Old World but not the Clovis point. The Clovis point has not been found in Siberia as might be expected if the culture originated in northeast Asia. Paradoxically, the closest analogue to the Clovis technology, especially with its distinctive biface manufacturing methods, lies in the area of of Spain and France with the Solutrean culture. This similarity is problematic not only because it does not derive Clovis from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge, but the Solutrean culture ceased to exist some 5,000 years before the inception of Clovis. Just as mysterious as its origins is the demise of Clovis culture. Clovis people may have been the last people to observe the megafauna of the Pleistocene. Some archaeologists and paleontologist suspect Clovis people had a role in bringing these large animals to extinction. Elements of the Clovis stone tool technology can be seen in succeeding Paleoindian cultures up to Dalton times some 1,000 years later. In fact some of the tools such as scrapers, gravers and prismatic blades last on through the Early Archaic period, some 2,000 years later during fully climatically modern times.
A new perspective on Clovis origins is now becoming available due to the discovery of preClovis sites in eastern North America. Sites like Meadowcroft Rockshelter (PA) and Cactus Hill (VA) have evidence of bifacial stone points and the usual unifacial flake and blade tools that may be proto types for the later Clovis culture. Sites such as Saltville 2(VA) and Topper (SC) contribute to a pattern of early (18,000-14,000 BP) human occupation of North America, such that it is now reasonable to think of resident preClovis populations which may at some point have become the Clovis culture.
Research into the origins of Clovis culture has focused on chronology building, mainly with radiocarbon dates, and projectile point distributional studies. Radiocarbon dated sites with high contextual reliability have been found mostly in the Plains and Southwest, especially with mammoth associations. Clovis age radiocarbon dates have been infrequently obtained in the East, but are essentially contemporaneous with western dates. Projectile point distributional studies over the last decade have born out what many archaeologists have anecdotally observed -- that is that more fluted points are found in the East than the West. Furthermore, the Southeastern United States has by far more fluted points than the rest of the country.
In anthropology the question of the origin of an artifact or cultural trait has traditionally been linked to the Age Area Hypothesis. Simply put, the geographic origin of something is likely to be seen in the area of highest density. For North America, the highest density of fluted points, probably including Clovis points, is the mid South area comprised of Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. A second high density region is the mid Atlantic area around Virginia. Ironically, although the Southeast may in fact have the greatest number of fluted points including Clovis, there has never been a conference convened specifically to investigate Clovis culture there and the implications for its origins.
The Clovis in the Southeast conference will be held in Columbia, SC on October 26-29, 2005 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The primary objective of the conference is to scientifically explore the Clovis Culture and its origins within the southeastern United States. This is being done in collaboration with both the scientific community and the public involving privately and publicly owned paleoamerican artifact collections. It is intended as an educational forum for all who attend.
The Convention Center is capable of holding up to 1,000 people, this conference will consist of programs, exhibits, and traditional scientific presentations for three days and three nights, concluding with a tour bus trip to South Carolina's Big Pine Tree and Topper sites. Both of these sites have Clovis occupations with Topper having a substantial preClovis occupation. The goals of this conference are to create a scientific summary of Clovis in the Southeast, addressing issues such as Clovis origins, dating, geoarchaeological issues, and Clovis technology and site variation across the regions. Another goal is to open the conference to the public by encouraging them to attend and learn from the presentations. The public will also have a role by the display of private Paleoindian artifact collections of scientific importance. Most of the stone tools made by Clovis and other Paleoindian cultures have been found by and are in the possession of the collecting public. This conference will endeavor to showcase these important artifact collections to the scientific community and to allow feedback from scientist back to artifact collectors and other interested members of the public.