The Clovis culture is an ancient group from the Paleoindian period in North America, lasting about 13,050 to 12,750 years before present. The first discovery of this culture was at Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, where stone tools were found with the bones of Columbian mammoths in 1929. Clovis sites have been found throughout North America. The most unique tools of the Clovis culture are called Clovis points, which are long, pointed stone tools with grooves. These points were often over 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) long and used for hunting and cutting. Other tools included knives, scrapers, and tools shaped on both sides, as well as bone tools like rods and wrenches. Some ivory points may have also been used. Evidence suggests they used hides, wood, and fibers, but no direct remains of these materials have been found. Clovis tools are often found in groups, called caches, and more than 20 such caches have been discovered.
The Clovis people were likely groups of hunter-gatherers who moved frequently. They relied heavily on hunting large animals, such as mammoths, and also hunted mastodons, gomphothere, bison, and horses. They also ate smaller animals and plants. Some scientists believe Clovis hunters may have helped cause the extinction of large animals in North America, though this idea is debated. Only one human burial has been directly linked to Clovis tools: Anzick-1, a young boy found in Montana. His DNA is closely related to some modern Indigenous groups in Central and South America and also shares similarities with a 24,000-year-old boy from Siberia.
The Clovis culture is the earliest widely recognized ancient group in North America. However, in western North America, it existed at the same time as another group called the Western Stemmed Tradition. In the past, many scholars believed the Clovis people were the first to arrive in the Americas, but today, this idea is not widely accepted. Sites like Monte Verde II, Cooper’s Ferry, and Paisley Caves have been dated to at least 1,000 years earlier than the oldest Clovis sites.
The Clovis culture may have ended because the large animals they hunted disappeared, and their way of life became less mobile. This led to different stone tool styles and traditions across North America. Around 12,750–12,600 years ago, the Clovis culture was replaced by other groups, such as the Folsom tradition in central North America, the Cumberland point in the mid/southern region, the Suwannee and Simpson points in the southeast, and the Gainey points in the Northeast–Great Lakes area. The Clovis and Folsom traditions may have existed at the same time for 80–400 years. The end of the Clovis culture is generally seen as a natural change over time.
In South America, a similar tool style called Fishtail or Fell points was used around the same time as Clovis points in North America. These tools may have developed from Clovis points.
Discovery
On August 29, 1927, the first clear evidence of humans from the Pleistocene era found by several archaeologists in the Americas was discovered near Folsom, New Mexico. At this site, they found the first Folsom point, a type of stone tool, alongside the bones of an extinct bison species called Bison antiquus. This discovery proved that humans lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene and encouraged others to search for more evidence of early humans.
In 1929, 19-year-old Ridgely Whiteman, who had read about excavations in nearby Folsom in newspapers, found the Clovis site near Blackwater Draw in eastern New Mexico. Although earlier discoveries of Paleoindian tools had been made, the most detailed evidence of the Clovis complex was collected and studied between 1932 and 1937 near Clovis, New Mexico. A team led by Edgar Billings Howard worked on this site until 1935, and later, John L. Cotter from the Academy of Natural Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania continued the work. Howard’s team first excavated Burnet Cave, the first professionally studied Clovis site, in August 1932. They then visited Whiteman and his Blackwater Draw site. By November, Howard returned to Blackwater Draw to examine more findings from a construction project.
The American Journal of Archaeology, in its January–March 1932 issue, described Howard’s work in Burnet Cave, including the discovery of bones from extinct animals and a "Folsom type" point found 4 feet below a Basketmaker burial. An earlier article about Burnet Cave was published in The University Museum Bulletin in November 1931.
The Dent site in Colorado was the first place where Clovis points were found with the bones of mammoths, as noted by Hannah Marie Wormington in her book Ancient Man in North America (4th edition, 1957). Gary Haynes, in his book The Early Settlement of North America, suggested that the fluted tool commonly found with large extinct animals, especially mammoths, at more than a dozen other sites in North America might have been better named "Dent" instead of "Clovis," after the town near Blackwater Draw where the tool was first named.
Material culture
A feature that helps identify the Clovis tradition is a method called overshot flaking. This involves striking flakes from one edge of a stone tool so that they travel across the face of the tool, with little removal from the opposite edge. Some experts believe this was done intentionally by the stone knapper, while others suggest that the main goal was to remove flakes that travel past the center of the tool but stop before reaching the other side. Other traits of the Clovis culture include careful selection of raw materials, specific ways of preparing and shaping flakes and blades, particular sizes and shapes of bifacial tools (tools with flakes removed from both sides), and unique blade characteristics such as size, curve, and how they were shaped. Scholars have long debated the exact definition of the Clovis culture, as the term has been used to describe an era, a culture, or a specific type of projectile point, with some disagreement about how to distinguish Clovis from other early Native American cultures.
A key part of the Clovis toolkit is the Clovis point, a distinctive stone tool shaped like a spear tip. Clovis points are made by removing flakes from both sides of the stone, and they often have flutes—long, narrow flakes removed from the base. These flutes usually extend up one-third to one-half of the point’s length, unlike later tools where flutes run the full length. Clovis points are usually flat or slightly curved, with a concave base. While no direct evidence of what was attached to them has been found, they are believed to have been used as spear or dart tips, possibly for hunting or self-defense. Some may have also been used as cutting tools or knives. These points were sometimes resharpened, though it is unclear if they were used for a long time. The size and shape of Clovis points varied over time and across regions, with some exceeding 10 centimeters in length. Making these points required significant effort, and they often broke during production, especially during fluting. The flutes may have helped make the points more durable by absorbing stress during use, or they may have been for style or to help attach the points to spears. Clovis points were made from rocks like nodules or siliceous cryptocrystalline materials. They were thinned by removing flakes parallel to their length, using both hammering and pressure flaking techniques.
Clovis blades—long, thin flakes made from specially shaped stone cores—are part of a global tradition from the Upper Paleolithic period. These blades were twice as long as they were wide and were used to create tools like end scrapers (for scraping animal hides), serrated tools, and gravers. Unlike bifaces, Clovis blade cores were not often transported far from where they were made; instead, the blades themselves were likely carried in mobile toolkits.
Bifaces, tools with flakes removed from both sides, had multiple uses for Clovis people. They could serve as cutting tools, as preforms (unfinished tools) for making points or other tools, or as sources of large flakes for other tools.
Other tools associated with the Clovis culture include adzes (possibly used for woodworking), bone "shaft wrenches" (possibly used to straighten wooden shafts), and rods made of bone, antlers, or ivory. Some rods had beveled (angled) ends and may have been used as foreshafts to attach stone points to spears, while others with one pointed end might have been used as projectile points. The exact use of these rods is still debated, with some suggesting they could have been used as pry bars. Clovis people also made projectile points from ivory and bone.
A unique feature of the Clovis culture is "caching," where groups intentionally left collections of tools, such as Clovis points or bifaces, in a place, likely intending to return later to retrieve them. Some scholars believe this practice may have had ritual significance. Over twenty such caches have been found across North America.
Art and ritual practices
Some Clovis culture artifacts may show creativity, such as painted rock, the use of red ochre, and stones with carvings. The most famous examples were found at the Gault site in Texas and include limestone pieces carved with geometric shapes, some of which look like leaves. Clovis people, like other early groups, used red ochre for artistic and ceremonial purposes, such as in burials and to cover items in hidden places. Clovis people are known to have brought ochre from 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from where it was first found. They are also believed to have made beads from animal bones.
Lifestyle
Clovis hunter-gatherers are known as advanced foragers who used advanced tools to find resources while moving often. In many Clovis sites, stone tools were found hundreds of kilometers away from where the stones originally came, with one example over 900 kilometers (560 miles) distant. The people who made Clovis tools likely lived in low numbers but had wide-reaching cultural connections. Evidence suggests they used hides, wood, and natural fibers, though no direct proof of this has been found. Bone needles, possibly used to sew clothing from fur, were discovered at the La Prele site in Wyoming. These needles were made from bones of jackrabbits, red foxes, and felines (such as bobcats, lynx, cougars, or American cheetahs), showing these animals were likely hunted for their pelts.
Clovis artifacts are often found with remains of large animals, including mammoths, mastodons, bison, and horses. Some sites suggest hunting of caribou, peccaries, ground sloths, glyptodonts, tapirs, camels, and llamas. Mammoths are most commonly found in Clovis sites, followed by bison. However, Clovis people also hunted smaller animals, such as tortoises and jackrabbits, which were present at about 31% of sites. Most experts agree that Clovis people relied heavily on large animals for food but also ate smaller animals and plants. Some researchers argue their lifestyle was more varied, including occasional hunting of large animals.
Plant remains found at Clovis sites, mostly from eastern North America, include easily gathered foods like fruits that needed little preparation. Few tools for processing plants have been found. Some scientists debate whether Clovis tools could kill large animals like mammoths, but experiments with replica tools show they could pierce thick hides, similar to how African hunters kill elephants with spears. Isotope analysis of the only known Clovis burial, a young child in Montana, suggests mammoths made up about 35–40% of the group’s diet, with elk and bison also contributing significantly. Small animals made up a small part of their diet.
In the Southern Plains, Clovis people built large camps near sources of usable stone, from which they may have moved seasonally to hunt large animals. In the southeast, they created large camps that may have been used for gatherings. At Jake Bluff in Oklahoma, Clovis tools were found with bones from at least 22 bison, likely trapped in a steep-sided dry riverbed.
In the 1950s, Paul S. Martin proposed the "overkill hypothesis," suggesting human hunting, including by Clovis people, caused the extinction of large animals in North America. This idea remains controversial, as climate changes around the same time also affected these animals. A 2012 survey found that 63% of archaeologists believe both human activity and climate changes contributed to these extinctions.
Genetics
The only known Clovis burial is that of Anzick-1, an infant boy discovered near Wilsall, Montana, in 1968. His remains were found with more than 100 stone and bone tools, all covered in red ocher. Scientists estimate the burial is about 12,990–12,840 years old. Analysis of his DNA shows he was part of a group that is related to many modern Indigenous peoples in the Americas, especially those from Central and South America. He is less closely related to people from North America, including northern Mexico. However, genetic differences vary among Indigenous groups in Central and South America, with older remains from South America being more similar to Anzick-1. This suggests that Native American populations had already split into distinct groups before the Clovis culture existed, and these groups later moved to new areas during the Holocene period. Like other Native Americans, Anzick-1 is genetically linked to people from Siberia, supporting the idea that the Clovis culture originated in Asia. His Y chromosome belongs to Haplogroup Q-L54, which is common among modern Native Americans. His mitochondrial DNA belongs to Haplogroup D4h3a, which is rare in today’s Native American populations (found in about 1.4%, mostly along the Pacific coast) but was more common in the earliest Indigenous people in the Americas.
Distribution and chronology
Some researchers believe the Clovis culture existed for only a few hundred years. A 2020 study, based on ten well-dated Clovis sites, suggests the culture lasted from about 13,050 to 12,750 years ago, ending after the start of the Younger Dryas period. This finding matches results from a 2007 study by the same researchers. Other scholars argue that some sites may extend the Clovis culture’s timeline back to 13,500 years ago, but the dates for these sites are not certain. Some experts support a longer timeline of about 1,500 years for the Clovis culture.
In the past, many researchers believed the Clovis people were the first to settle in North America south of the Laurentide ice sheet, which, along with the smaller Cordilleran ice sheet, covered much of Canada and parts of the northern U.S. This idea, called the "Clovis first" theory, has been largely replaced since the early 2000s. Sites like Monte Verde II in Chile (about 14,500 years ago), Paisley Caves in Oregon (about 14,200 years ago), and Cooper’s Ferry in Idaho (about 15,800 years ago) are older than the oldest Clovis sites. Footprints at White Sands in New Mexico may be even older, dating to around 23,000 years ago.
Earlier theories suggested that Clovis people migrated into North America through the "ice-free corridor," a region between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets that became open after the ice melted. However, recent studies show the corridor was not passable until about 13,800 years ago, long after humans were already present in the Americas. Some researchers believe Clovis people may have traveled along the Pacific coast instead. A 2022 study suggests the fluted projectile-point style of Clovis may have developed in temperate regions south of the Laurentide ice sheet and later spread northward through the ice-free corridor.
The Clovis culture is found in many areas across North America, from southern Canada to northern Mexico. Its origin remains unclear, but fluted Clovis points seem to have developed in regions south of the Laurentide ice sheet, not in Beringia. Some scholars link Clovis to the Dyuktai lithic style, a type of stone tool found in Beringia. Others think Clovis emerged from the spread of traditions among existing Paleoindian groups or from the movement of a single population. In western North America, the Clovis culture coexisted with or came before the Western Stemmed Tradition, which used unfluted projectile points. The Western Stemmed Tradition continued for thousands of years after Clovis ended.
The end of the Clovis culture may have been influenced by the decline of large animals that Clovis people hunted and by changes in how people moved across the land. These changes likely led to differences in stone tools and cultural practices across North America. This is seen as a normal part of cultural development over time. There is no evidence that the Younger Dryas period or a population decline caused Clovis to disappear.
After Clovis, many regional cultures emerged, such as the Folsom tradition in central North America, the Cumberland point in mid/southern regions, the Suwannee and Simpson points in the southeast, and the Gainey points in the northeast-Great Lakes area. The Clovis and Folsom traditions may have overlapped for about 80 to 400 years.
Some researchers suggest the Clovis culture may be the ancestor of other fluted point styles in Central and South America, such as the widespread Fishtail or Fell point styles.