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Question: Who were the Clovis people!?
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The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoindian culture that first appears in the archaeological record of North America around 11,500 rcbp radiocarbon years ago, at the end of the last glacial period!. Archaeologists' best guess at present suggests this is equal to roughly 13,000 calendar years ago!. The Clovis culture is thought to have lasted from between 200 and 800 years, depending on the source consulted, with an average estimate of around 500 years, starting about 13,000 years ago!. The Clovis culture seems to have ended at the time of the Younger Dryas cold climate period, hypothesized to be a result of the Younger Dryas impact event!.

The Clovis people, one of several Paleoindian groups, were long regarded as the first human inhabitants of the New World, and ancestors of all the indigenous cultures of North and South America!. However, this view has been contested over the last thirty years by several archaeological discoveries, including sites like Cactus Hill in Virginia, Paisley Caves in the Summer Lake Basin of Oregon, Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania, and Monte Verde, Chile!.

Description

The culture is named for a small number of artifacts found in 1936 and 1937 at Blackwater Draw Locality #1, near Clovis, New Mexico!. People began collecting artifacts at this site in the late 1920s but artifacts and animal remains that had not moved since the Pleistocene were not recovered until 1936!. The in situ finds of 1936 and 1937 included 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!. Clovis sites have since been identified throughout much, but not all, of the contiguous United States, as well as Mexico and Central America, and even into Northern South America!.[2]

A hallmark of the toolkit associated with the Clovis culture is the distinctively-shaped fluted rock spear point, known as the Clovis point!. The Clovis point is bifacial and typically fluted on both sides!. Archaeologists do not agree on whether the widespread presence of these artifacts indicates the proliferation of a single people, or the adoption of a superior technology by diverse population groups!. It is generally accepted that Clovis people hunted mammoth as Clovis points have repeatedly been found in sites containing mammoth remains!. Mammoth is only a small part of the Clovis diet; extinct bison, mastodon, sloths, tapir, palaeolama, horse and a host of smaller animals have also been found in Clovis sites where they were killed and eaten!. In total, 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!. Clovis sites are known from most of North America, some parts of Central America, and even into northern South America in Venezuela
Discovery

A cowboy and former slave, George McJunkin, found an Ancient Bison (an extinct relative of the American Bison) skeleton with an associated Folsom point in about 1908 after a massive flood!. It was first excavated in 1926, near Folsom, New Mexico under the direction of Harold Cook and Jesse Figgins!. In 1929, 19-year-old James Ridgley Whiteman, discovered the Clovis Man Site in the Blackwater Draw in Eastern New Mexico!. Despite earlier legitimate Paleoindian discoveries, the best understood evidence of the Clovis tool complex was excavated in 1932-1937 in Clovis, New Mexico, by a crew under the direction of Edgar Billings Howard from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences/University of Pennsylvania!. Howard's crew left their excavation in Burnet Cave, New Mexico (truly the first professionally excavated Clovis site) in August and visited Whiteman and his Blackwater Draw site!. In November, Howard was back at Blackwater Draw to investigate additional finds by Whiteman!.

There may be earlier reports of the Paleoindian layers of the dig in Burnet Cave, but it seems likely that the first report of professional work at a Clovis site concerns the Blackwater Draw site in the November 25, 1932 issue of Science!. This directly contradicts statements by some authors (Haynes 2002:56 The Early Settlement of North America) that Dent, Colorado was the first excavated Clovis site!. The Dent Site, in Weld County, Colorado, was simply a fossil mammoth excavation in 1932!. The first Dent Clovis point was found July 7, 1933!. The in situ Clovis point from Burnet Cave was excavated in late August, 1931 and E!. B!. Howard brought it to the 3rd Pecos Conference and showed it aroundWww@QuestionHome@Com

The Clovis culture (sometimes referred to as the Llano culture is a prehistoric Paleoindian culture that first appears in the archaeological record of North America around 11,500 rcbp radiocarbon years ago, at the end of the last glacial period!. Archaeologists' best guess at present suggests this is equal to roughly 13,000 calendar years ago!. The Clovis culture is thought to have lasted from between 200 and 800 years, depending on the source consulted, with an average estimate of around 500 years, starting about 13,000 years ago!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Archeologist's first discovered evidence of these people at Clovis , New Mexico in the 1930's, hence the name!.
They were inhabitants of North America before the American Indians!.
New evidence says that they were in North America about 13,000 - 17,000 years ago!. Archeologist's recently uncovered Clovis arrowheads in the eastern coast of America and say that they are made exactly like arrowheads made by people of Western Europe!. They say that during an Ice Age when the ice pack was covering parts of Canada, Greenland, and all the way into the North Atlantic Ocean that these people from Western Europe traveled along the edge of the ice pack to North America!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They were the earliest established human culture in North America!. They are also known as Paleo-Indians!. They hunted mammoths and bison!.Www@QuestionHome@Com