EARLY HUNTERS
The year 1926 was marked by the first of a series of important archeological finds in New Mexico that were eventually to demonstrate that man had occupied this area as much as 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. During this period, Late Pleistocene ice sheets of continental glaciers still blanketed parts of the northern tier of states in the vicinity of the Great Lakes, and elephants (both mammoths and mastodons), horses, camels, giant bison, tapirs, and ground sloths roamed the Southwest. Excavations begun in 1926 near the small town of Folsom, in northeastern New Mexico ([fig. 1]), disclosed a number of fossil skeletons of a large form of extinct bison, forerunners of the modern bison or buffalo. Among these bones were dart or spear points of distinctive form and workmanship, characterized by broad, shallow flutes or channels on each face ([fig. 2]). These artifacts, now known as Folsom points, have since been recovered from a number of sites in New Mexico and elsewhere in North America, commonly in association with the remains of extinct bison. Evidently Folsom “Man” (whose skeletal remains have not been discovered) was a nomadic hunter particularly dependent upon the bison for his food supply, much as were the later Plains Indians of historic time. Ages of from 10,000 to 11,000 years have been obtained from charcoal and other organic remains at Folsom camp sites by the radiocarbon method.
Succeeding years have seen an increasing number of valuable archeological discoveries at camp and game-kill sites of Folsom Man and other Early Hunters. Unquestionably, the most important of these sites is the Blackwater Draw locality between Clovis and Portales in extreme eastern New Mexico, where excavations for gravel disclosed a stratified sequence of sediments that were deposited in an ancient pond and spring. Here, too, were the characteristic Folsom points in association with the bones of fossil bison. Below the Folsom layer, still older deposits contained the fossil bones of mammoth, horse, camel, and bison associated with fluted spear points that resembled those from Folsom but were generally larger and less skillfully chipped and fluted. These points, now known as Clovis points, are so commonly found beside the remains of mammoths in a number of sites in the High Plains and the Southwest that their makers are believed to have been adept at hunting these extinct elephants. Radiocarbon dates place Clovis points in a time range of from 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.
In a layer above that containing Folsom points at Blackwater Draw, several varieties of unfluted lanceolate points were found to be associated with the bones of fossil bison. These points have been identified by various specific names such as Plainview, Milnesand, Eden, and Scottsbluff from excavated sites elsewhere in the High Plains region, and probably range in age from 8000 to 10,000 years. Although the giant bison still survived into this level of stratigraphy and time, the elephant, camel, and horse of the Clovis level had disappeared from the area.
Figure 1. Index map of New Mexico showing locations of significant archeological sites, modern Indian pueblos, and Navajo, Ute, and Apache reservations
Early Hunter Sites 1. Folsom State Monument 2. Sandia Cave 3. San Jon 4. Blackwater Draw 5. Manzano Cave 6. Lucy 7. Milnesand 8. Burnet Cave Prehistoric Pueblo and Cliff-Dwelling Ruins 9. Aztec Ruins National Monument 10. Chaco Canyon National Monument 11. Puye Cliff Dwellings 12. Bandelier National Monument (Tyuonyi) 13. Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Historic Pueblo Ruins 14. Jemez State Monument 15. Pecos State Monument 16. Coronado State Monument (Kuaua) 17. Paako State Monument 18. Quarai State Monument 19. Abo State Monument 20. Gran Quivira National Monument Modern Pueblos 21. Taos 22. San Lorenzo (Picurís) 23. San Juan 24. Santa Clara 25. San Ildefonso 26. Nambé 27. Tesuque 28. Cochiti 29. Santo Domingo 30. San Felipe 31. Sandia 32. Santa Ana 33. Zia 34. Jemez 35. Isleta 36. Laguna 37. Acoma 38. Zuni 39. Ojo Caliente Navajo, Ute, and Apache Reservations 40. Navajo Indian Reservation 41. Ute Mountain Indian Reservation 42. Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation 43. Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation
Modern pueblos Historic pueblo ruins Prehistoric pueblo and cliff-dwelling ruins Early Hunter sites
Another important discovery was made in Sandia Cave northeast of Albuquerque. Below cave deposits containing Folsom points was an earlier type of point among the bones of mammoth, horse, camel, and other large Pleistocene mammals. Now identified as Sandia points, these projectile tips are distinguished by an asymmetric stemmed form with a shoulder on one side. The age of the Sandia points has been a subject of some controversy, but the latest available data from charcoal in Sandia Cave indicates an age of nearly 12,000 years, which is within the accepted range of the Clovis points.
Figure 2. Folsom point recovered from among rib bones of fossil bison at Folsom, New Mexico (Photograph of plastic replica. Original point in collection of Denver Museum of Natural History.)
Clovis, Sandia, and Folsom points, together with related stone implements, are at many places enclosed in sediments deposited in or adjacent to ponds, lakes, streams, and wet meadows. These environments indicate a former cool and more humid climate in areas that are now semiarid. The food requirements of many of the large herbivores that lived at this time also suggest more abundant vegetation and surface water than prevails here today. It is not unreasonable, then, to presume that climatic conditions contributing to the advance of continental glaciers in the Great Lakes region, and to valley glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, should have been reflected in lower summer temperatures and higher rainfall in non-glaciated areas. The ultimate extinction of the large Pleistocene mammals and the similar time of disappearance of the hunters who preyed upon them may both be related to the climatic changes that followed the end of the Ice Age in America.