The Clovis People

THE AMERICAS IN ANCIENT TIMES HIST 1301 | History The Clovis People Groups of hunter-gatherers had dispersed over North America south of the surviving ice sheets as long as thirteen thousand years ago. The Clovis culture, so named for the Clovis, New Mexico, site where the earliest signs of their existence were found, was made up of nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers who set up camp in resource-rich areas in small groups. Archaeologists have discovered several more Clovis-related sites in Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania since the first site was discovered in the 1920s. The Clovis civilization may have spread far south, according to recent DNA study of remains found in Central and South America. The numerous exquisitely crafted, fluted stone points that the Clovis people left behind are the most remarkable artefacts. By cutting and shaping different kinds of fine stone into sharp-sided projectiles and attaching them to shafts that were most likely made of wood, they produced these so-called Clovis points. When put together, the tools might be used as spears or other thrown hunting implements, such as darts. These weapons belonged to a wider set of tools that Clovis used, which also included bone tools and hand axes. Small and lightweight items were essential for those who were always on the go.The Clovis people hunted numerous small animals as well as huge bison, mastodons, and mammoths when they were migrating. They probably fished in lakes, rivers, and coastal waterways as well. When they did establish extended permanent residences, it was usually because of the availability of clean water for drinking, animals for hunting and fishing, and rocks for creating landmarks. Red ocher, a natural soil that contains iron oxide, has even been found to have been used to construct and adorn burial sites, indicating a religious belief that called for periodic ceremonial burial. A wide range of enormous creatures, including gigantic sloths, bears, tortoises, lions, wolves, beavers, armadillos, and several kinds of large bison, could be found in the environment where the Clovis people lived. Then, these enormous creatures all became extinct around the same time that people started travelling throughout North America and going hunting. Some claim that the Clovis people's overhunting was the primary cause of the extinction. On the other hand, another theory contends that the main offender was the sudden increase in temperature at the conclusion of the last ice age. There are flaws in both hypotheses, and discussion is ongoing. But the possibility that both climate change and human action played a role appears at least reasonable. After barely a few centuries, the Clovis culture that swept throughout North America around thirteen thousand years ago disappeared. Its inhabitants dispersed around the region, creating new civilizations in response to the circumstances of their new surroundings. Subsequent waves of migrants arrived in these groupings, dispersing throughout the Americas and settling in various regions. There were numerous distinct cultural traditions in North America, Mexico, Central America, and South America between 9000 and 2000 BCE, a time known as the Archaic era. They adapted to their many geographic environments, which included the rainforests of southern Mexico and Central America, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains, the Eastern Woodlands, the Southwest, and the Andes area of South America.