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 b.c., 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 among the earliest definitively dated human populations in the Americas, but there is stone-tool and other evidence of earlier humans.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Human Evolution
