Clovis culture

Clovis culture a group of Paleo-Indians (see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the ) known through artifacts first excavated in the early 1930s near Clovis, N.Mex. The artifacts, including chipped flint points known as Clovis points and a variety of additional stone tools, were found along with remains of large mammals, particularly extinct mammoths. The remains, which date from 10,000 to 9000 BC, were found widely in North America, especially on the Great Plains. Like Folsom points (see Folsom culture ), Clovis points show a distinct lengthwise groove (known as fluting) on each face that served to enhance the hafting to spear shafts. Clovis groups are the earliest definitively dated human populations in the Americas, and the earliest known big-game hunters.

Clovis culture A prehistoric culture in North America, characterized by lance-shaped stone points, 7–12 cm (3–5 inches) long, fluted near the base. The tools are often found in association with bones of large mammals, such as bison and extinct mammoth, and are assumed to have been used as spear heads. Named after a town in western New Mexico, they are found at sites throughout the mid-west and south-west, USA from a period between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. At one time, Clovis hunters were regarded as typifying the first Americans, but it has been suggested that people were in the Americas long before, perhaps even by 30,000 years ago.