Archaeological culture · c. 11,100–10,800 BCE
Clovis culture
Mobile hunter-gatherers of Ice Age North America, named after finds near Clovis, New Mexico. Their large fluted spear points turn up across much of the continent, often with the bones of mammoths, mastodons and bison.
Once thought to be the first Americans, they are now known to have been preceded by earlier people at sites such as Paisley Caves, though some of those pre-Clovis dates are still argued over.
See Clovis culture on the map in 11,100 BCE
- On the map
- 11,100–10,800 BCE
How we know
No writing existed; known from fluted stone spear points, campsites and kill sites dated by radiocarbon.
Sites
- Blackwater Draw (Clovis type site) Clovis level c. 11,100–10,800 BCE