00:00.00 archpodnet Welcome back to the pseudo archeology podcast episode 108 and we have been talking about clovis what is Clovis and I do think that part of the problem here again is. The word clovis first it's kind of weird right? It's very memorable in a way when you hear Clovis you're like oh what's that you know because it it doesn't seem to be used often in everyday speech. But that it refers to 4 different things as I said previously it refers to. Ah, geographical place. It refers to an artifact type it refers to a time period and it refers to a culture. So let's talk about the specifics of that. What? What are all those things. So first. The place itself is Clovis New Mexico okay so there's there's an actual spot in New Mexico right town of clovis there is also a clovis in California which can mess you up. It did take me years before I realized oh wait, they're talking about the one in New Mexico oh okay right me as a California resident. Ah, so that location itself. So if you're saying where is clovis in terms of archeology. We're talking about the place in New Mexico now why is that place important. It's because in the early 1930 s. 01:34.42 archpodnet That's where they found a very specific artifact called a clovis point. So the clovis point is a stone spear point and the way they actually look It's pretty cliche. And my meaning of that is if you think of a spear point in your mind. That's pretty much what it looks like I would say it's not overly ornate like it. It doesn't have ah like a expanding stem at the base or a bunch of barbs on it or something. It's a very so. Simply a crafted point. They're pretty big since they're a spear point they're going to be the end of a spear that you hold to stab something with like a mammoth and. In terms of size. You know 3 or four inches long that kind of thing although they do vary in size but they're bigger rather than smaller and what makes Clovis Clovis in terms of the artifact is not just that it's a spear point, but it's really how the base is formed now the base is the part. That is stuck into the stick right? The opposite side from the point and the base on clovis points are thinned so they're made thinner in order to halved easier in order to shove into the middle of the stick easier and then you kind of lash it on. 03:02.41 archpodnet And the way it's thinned is by taking a flake out of either side at the bottom So when the craftsmen who had to be really really good at making stone tools to make a clovis points because clovis points they look great. They're really fine even though they're simple. They're very finely made and by fine I mean. The the projectile point itself is thin. You know with ah and they're obviously a byface meaning they're worked on both sides and they're sharp all along the edge from the point all the way down and it's the process of thinning to make it nice and thin sort of wide but thin. That's really tough. When making stone tools. So after they did that with their last couple wacks they would go to the base and chunk out a flake on both sides which would which would ah. 03:59.45 archpodnet Drastically narrow the base and make it easier to have and so when you see them archeologically they're super obvious when you see what we call a fluted base when you see those bases you're like oh there's clovis and the reason why this artifact. So important is it was found in the same area as mammoths and so in the 1930 s this is huge, right? So this is really really old for the 1930 s now the dating methods in the 1930 s are obviously not nearly as good as they are today. But. This is one of the big finds that starts to prove to american culture that like no then native cultures have been here for a really long time. Not just a couple hundred years thousands and thousands of years so clovis in terms of the discovery is just. Ah, a really important turning point in not just archeology. But the idea of the depth and importance of native cultures. So in terms of the date. Um. We currently date clovis and I hear you plus or minus a hundred years kind of thing to about thirteen thousand one hundred years ago to twelve Thousand Eight hundred years ago give or take so that's you know about thirteen thousand years ago notice how narrow it is. 05:31.73 archpodnet 300 years or so in archeology that is just a gift because it dates your sight. So well. So if you find clovis culture you're like well 13000 years old you know give or take just a few hundred years. That's great because for the most part. When you're looking at other artifacts. They're usually made for hundreds if not thousands of years so if you find other styles of artifacts. They don't date your site nearly as well. You can be like ah this is somewhere between 5000 years old you know something like that. But this is really really specific and really. Really old for things found in the new world right? It's about as old as you can get just about the area in Clovis where this stuff was found is called blackwater draw I love the name of that place Blackwater draw. That is a romantic name like it or not you know I lost my life in blackwater draw right? got that ring to it so that's where that's where these first finds were made now after the 1930 s there. Was a decent amount of of Clovis artifacts specifically clovis points and and so on found ah throughout the northern hemisphere and even down into so I know 1 or 2 have been found in Central America and maybe even into South America it definitely ah, Peters out and I will say that. 07:06.86 archpodnet Clovis artifacts are found much more commonly kind of east of the Rockies right? We find it much more rarely in the west. Although it is around but it's a lot less. You can really see the difference a lot of these early. Ah. Clovis sites are seem to be east side of the continent now this time period of thirteen thousand years ago or you could say you know Eleven Thousand bc if you want this is the time. That we call kind of the culture of the mammoth hunters right? This is the time of the end of the last ice age. It's different from today a couple degrees cooler than it is today right? It is a time of the mega fauna now they don't have much time left on this earth but this is a time of. Woolly mammoth giant sloth which is my personal favorite um bison antique was which is the extinct form of this larger bison. You guys know the the ice age creatures right? And if you don't I recommend the movie the ice age right? the. 08:22.21 archpodnet The cartoon it gives you a good idea of what was around so again, it's a different world at that time and the culture that is often labeled things like the mammoth hunters you know and this kind of thing of that time would have been. Informed of course on this kind of environment and been able to deal with it in a very reasonable manner. So I do want to say that while we call this time the time of the mammoth hunters that makes great copy. But of course the people from this time would have. Hunted other things they would have gathered food in other ways their culture would have been more um dynamic than just simply calling them mammoth hunters right? They would have done many other things as well. But it is that different world you know and then. Shortly after this the ice age is going to end and when you find other cultures in the new world that are a bit newer. They are operating in an environment that's much more similar to what we experience Today. So. Clovis culture did have a different experience for a colder world. So ultimately there there you go right? We've gone over the place the artifact the time period and the culture. 09:53.14 archpodnet Of Thirteen thousand years ago and finally for this segment I also wanted to just touch on why something so specific like a clovis point is so good for dating I know I touched on that for just a minute but imagine if. Were 5000 years in the future and we were archeologists digging and we found modern culture the culture of today right? Think about certain artifacts from today that would help you with dating again. These are things that didn't exist. And then we made they became really popular. Everyone used them and then they were gone one of my favorite examples for this are Cds right? Music Cds nobody had those until the like the latest 1980 S right Um. Maybe mid 1980 s if you were a rich person most of us got them in the early 90 s you know and then had them throughout the 90 s and maybe into the early two thousand s and then by around oh I don't know what two thousand and ten Twenty definitely by 2015 but I'm even stretching a little but they were pretty much gone. You can still buy them today. But the numbers are tiny. So if you're an archeologist 5000 years in the future and you find a Cd. You're like yes I can date this area. 11:25.19 archpodnet Sometime between 1985 and 2010 you know and most likely it's somewhere between 1990 and 2000 you see how that works so we as archeologists love finding or love love knowing you know. These certain artifacts that we can then find and really help ourselves with dating now you see that doesn't need carbon 14 or anything we may have used carbon 14 in the past to ah make sure the date is actually correct. But once you have it, you just find the artifact and you're good to go so the. Clovis point works in that same way I do want to make sure you guys know it is exceedingly rare to find a clovis point the number of Clovis points I've found in my career is 0 the number of Clovis points. My friends have found is 0 um I do know one or 2 2 that have been found around kind of in the last I don't know 20 years in my career or whatever one of which was very very shaky shaky right? Um, so these are these are are rare finds and. In terms of dating pre clovis as I said before these sites are just coming up more and more and we also have even here in in California and on the west coast we have some early stuff that really seems to. 12:59.56 archpodnet Give credence to the what's called the kelp highway which means that maybe the earliest peoples really went kind of beach to beach to beach from ah Asia in the very north across the bearing land bridge and then down not through the interior so much but along the beaches. So we find really. Pre-clovis you know, kind of kind of dates in in some of these locations and the idea that a lot of those sites may be in fact, underwater because of course ah at clovis times you have the ice the ends of the ice age and the modern. Sea level is probably about three hundred feet above what it was like thirteen thousand years ago you know. So unfortunately many of those sites are likely underwater, but in the future. Hopefully we will find some of those when we come back? What to think and what to do. About clovis.