Early Man Projectile Points in the Southwest

by Kenneth Honea

Sandia III

Single-shouldered Sandia III points are similar in all respects to Sandia II points with these exceptions: the base on specimens of the Sandia III type is consistently deeply concave, and the stem portion is always vertically fluted.

CLOVIS POINTS

Clovis points are named after the type site located near Clovis, New Mexico. They were found associated with the remains of mammoth and other extinct animal forms in gravels at the bottom of a Late Pleistocene pond. This site is counted among the most important archaeological discoveries of the New World. The series of culture layers excavated from above the one containing Clovis material give the most complete sequence of Early Man cultures yet found at a single site.

Clovis

Clovis points are symmetrically lanceolate in outline and are broadest near mid-section or sometimes nearer to the tip. Upper lateral edges of the point body are slightly rounded. Lower lateral edges are commonly straight or slightly rounded and they may taper somewhat towards the consistently concave base. On some examples, the lateral edges near the base may be gently recurved. Both the basal concavity and the lateral edges are smoothed by intentional grinding. The characteristic flutes were struck vertically from only one or from both faces. In the latter case, they may not be of equal length. The longest flute usually does not extend up further from the base than about half the length of the point. Nonetheless, specimens are known on which fluting extends up almost the entire length of a face. Flaking on Clovis points was probably by direct percussion; lateral edges of some may have been thinned by secondary pressure retouch. Initial flake scars on point faces are irregular. Fluting was achieved by the removal of either one or a series of long flakes parallel to the point long-axis, possibly by indirect percussion. Dimensions are variable. Clovis points in the broader Southwest may range from nearly 3.5 to 14.0 cm. in length, and in width from about 2.0 to 4.0 cm.

Radio carbon dates and geologic evidence obtained in recent years indicate Clovis points were in use by Early Man between about 11,000 and 11,500 years ago in the Southwest. Though older than Folsom points, there evidently was a period towards the end of the Clovis sequence, during which both Clovis and Folsom points were made and used. Clovis points have been found with the remains of extinct Pleistocene fauna, primarily mammoth, not only at the type locality, but at sites near Angus, Nebraska; Dent, Colorado; Miami, Texas; and Naco, Arizona. Finds of such points, mostly on the surface, have also been made in northern Mexico, California, on the eastern seaboard, in the Midwest, Canada, and Alaska.

Small Clovis points may be confused with Folsom points. However, Clovis points are both thicker and heavier; flutes do not ordinarily extend up the entire face, and workmanship is not as fine as on Folsom points. Also, Folsom points often have a small nipple in the middle of the basal concavity, a feature lacking on Clovis points.