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If it wasn’t the blade(s), and hard stiff shafts. It was the projectile enhancing atlatls, or throwing sticks; and groups, or packs of hunters that worked together
With their sticks, spears, points; rocks; and, other megafauna disabling devices. They could pin point, reach out and target at something.
A typical Clovis point is a medium to large lanceolate point with sharp edges, a third of an inch thick, one to two inches wide, and, about four inches (10 cm) long
Made of flint, chert, jasper, chalcedony; and, other stones with conchoidal fractures. Typically flutes extend from the base to about halfway to a third up the point. And, they are sharp.
Clovis fluted points are named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico
Examples were first found here in 1929. By Ridgely Whiteman.
It’s believed this technology became common around 13,050 to 12,750 years ago (1)
They are present in dense concentrations across much of North America; and, they are largely restricted to the north of South America
It was widespread. The south American fishtail or fell projectile point style has been suggested to have derived from Clovis.
Whether Clovis toolmaking technology was developed in the Americas in response to megafauna hunting, or, originated through influences from elsewhere. Is an open question among archaeologists
Points have been found in Beringa.
Clovis spears had foreshafts that were longer, and detachable
One pictured was 15 inches or so. It could be detached to use as a knifes. For skinning butchery; fishing; and, for other tools. It had multi uses.

Its believed the paleo people of the Clovis era lived in small nomadic groups
Because of there size. The mammoths and mastodons were very popular for hunting. There style of tool, and weapon became very popular. And, spread across the Americas at a fast rate.

The mainshafts, were longer around 72″ (or 180cm)
Depending on game; and availability of resource(s). Lion, bear, sloth, mammoth/mastodon, cat, horse, bison, etc.
Did you know? In 1973 Mossiman, and Martin demonstrated humans could have colonized both north and south America in approximately 1,000 years. Concurrently killing off the large pleistocene mammals. It is called the overkill hypothesis. (2)
Each year more, and more points are found
At the end of the last ice age. Similarity from Clovis tools from site to site demonstrates the great adaptability. In an assortment of different places, and environments.
Check it out with some more neolithic architecture today!
Citation: 1) Waters, Michael R.; Stafford, Thomas W.; Carlson, David L. (October 23, 2020). “The age of Clovis—13,050 to 12,750 cal yr B.P.” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7577710)
Science Advances. 6 (43): eaaz0455. Bibcode:2020SciA….6..455W (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020SciA….6..455W). doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz0455 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.aaz0455). ISSN 2375-2548 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2375-2548). PMC 7577710 (https:
//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7577710). PMID 33087355 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/33087355).
2) Mossimann, J.E. and P.S. Martin, 1975, Simulating Overkill by Paleoindians. American Scientist 63:304-313
Bibliography:
Mann, Charles C. (November 2013). “The Clovis Point and the Discovery of America’s First Culture” (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first-culture-3825828/). Smithsonian Magazine.
Powell, Joseph F. 2005. The First Americans: Race, Evolution and the Origin of Native Americans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Lyman, R. Lee, O’Brien, Michael J., and Virgil Haynes. 1998. A Mechanical and Functional Study of Bone Rods from the Richey-Roberts Clovis Cache, Washington, U.S.A. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:887–906
Fiedel, Stuart J. (July 20, 2017). “The Anzick genome proves Clovis is first, after all”.
Quaternary International. 444: 4–9. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.06.022 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.quaint.2017.06.022).
Alroy, John. 2001. A Multispecies Overkill Simulation of the End-Pleistocene Megafaunal Mass Extinction. Science 292:1893–1896
C. J. Ellis and J. C. Lothrop, “Early Fluted-biface Variation in Glaciated Northeastern North America”, PaleoAmerica 5, no. 2 (2019): 121–131, 2019
Waters, Michael R., and Thomas W. Stafford, “Redefining the Age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas”, Science, vol. 315, no. 5815, pp. 1122–26, 2007
Haynes, C. Vance. 1980. The Clovis Culture. Canadian Journal of Anthropology 1: 115–121
Kelly, Robert L., and Lawrence C. Todd. 1988. Coming to the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility. American Antiquity 53:231–244.
Waguespack, Nichole M., and Todd A. Surovell. 2003. Clovis Hunting Strategies or How to Make Out on Plentiful Resources. American Antiquity 68:333–352
Haynes, Gary. 2002. The Early Settlement of North America: The Clovis Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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