Fluted Spear Points

[Havenhunter]

Read this article today and found it interesting.

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/native-americans-fluted-spear-points-05878.html

[2ndoldman]

That is interesting Deb, thank you for the link.

[searchinghawk]

thanks for sharing,,interesting article for sure

[BabaORiley]

Good read Deb. There is more and more insight coming into view as to the migrations of prehistoric people...

[sailorjoe]

Hi Deb. Interesting article, thank you. This report section dealing with the northward migration of fluted point technology seems to be a summary of findings in very recent years and reported elsewhere. I wonder why the authors chose to omit so much data and info from the southeast USA. considering the great numbers of Paleo sites in the area. Perhaps it was because of a lack of a sufficient number of sites where reliable dates have been established or confirmed. That would be my best guess. Whatever the reason the article gives the casual reader an incomplete picture. It seems, also, that the writer of the story seems to be hanging on to the belief that the people who made Clovis points were the first people in America. Evidence gathered from sites as geographically diverse as Virginia and Chile has, I thought, put that theory to rest.

[Havenhunter]

Joe, I couldn't agree more. Just Cactus Hill alone here in VA was not even referenced. Just another piece of the puzzle to titilate those who love to study first arrival possibilities.

[Jethro355]

Those Clovis and Folsom points in the picture...😳
Whew doggies...

[chase]

Interesting read but seems to fragmented and really does not explain this theory and in reference to the how the migration took place

[Tam]

Good read Deb ... thank you .
Joe I have a book The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast . Edited by David G. Anderson and Kenneth E
Sassaman for the University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa Alabama .
It does have maps and finds all over the Southeast . Shows every county and amount found by state . Tails of the hardwoods and plants that came to support the theory and the finds . I think these are some of the men you did sites with before so it might be interesting for you .
It’s an interesting college text that got me started on that area Your point is interesting I to wonder but I think it was a short article just about that particular area after going over it again .
I goggled Clovis for the simple map they have and boy did I find some interesting subjects and theories but nothing that has not been brought up here before . Just nice to watch them again .

[sailorjoe]

Hi Tam. Thanks for the reference from the U of AL Press. I will check and see if I can get it. Alabama, alone,has produced enough Clovis points in surface finds to astound most folks. Many of these finds are in the northern part of the state. For awhile there was a website one could go to where there was an attempt to catalog reported finds of fluted points on a state by state basis and there was an indeed a very large number found in many of the southeastern and midwestern states. And considering the possibility that many finders of fluted points do not officially report their finds, one can only imagine how many more have been found. As to that website, I have not visited it for quite a while and may have lost it. I will try to see if I can find it and if I do then I will pass on that info.

[CMD]

I saw this report recently. They seem to be using it as another nail in the coffin of the ice free corridor route as the most likely route south from Beringia. And supporting the emerging dominant theory that the so-called Pacific coast kelp highway route was the more likely path of migration. This likely puts much of the potential evidence for that migration under water on the continental shelf. I did think it was already known that fluted points in Alaska dated later then fluted points in the lower 48, but I could be mistaken on that score. The whole notion of the how and when of earliest entry certainly is in flux. The belief now that the future earliest Americans experienced a so-called Berigian Standstill, and lived in Beringia for several thousand years before following the Pacific coast south is now part of that conversation, and now migration into Alaska and NW Canada well after the earliest entry is trying to become part of the picture.

I was just reading a recent paper by Mike Gramly on the possible occurance of pre-Clovis points from South America occurring in a couple of southern states that was fascinating. Gramly was early in drawing connections between early people from both continents in this hemisphere. Everything is in flux. Just my opinion, but I think this is the most exciting era of American prehistoric archaeology where the peopling of the Americas are concerned. We've come a long way since those first Folsom and Clovis points were found. Wish I were about 50 years younger, well I guess I would wish that in any event, lol.

[CMD]

Another interesting sidebar is that, at least according to Gramly, the fluted point tradition persisted longer in New England then elsewhere in the lower 48, because, again from what Gramly has suggested, the caribou herds persisted longer here in the far Northeast. And interestingly, only one true Clovis, of the Ross County form, is even officially recorded from New England. It's the Lovett Clovis, found by our own forum member, and ASAA member, Jason Lovett, just a few years ago at a site on the Connecticut River of Ma. But there are several Post-Clovis fluted point forms found here, as well as evidence of material procurement, such as Ramah Chert, obtained in Labrador, and arriving in Vermont to the south via the Champlain Sea, before it became Lake Champlain. So up here, there was a seasonal migration pattern tied to the migration of caribou herds from south to north, and back again.

[Tam]

Makes sense or what ever else was migrating back then . I goggled Clovis people today and got caught up in a 45 min utube talking about all your statements

[CMD]

This may, or may not be, the fluted point survey site referenced by sailorjoe. If it is not, it's very useful nonetheless...

http://pidba.utk.edu/main.htm

http://pidba.utk.edu/maps.htm

[Tam]

Excellent

[Tam]

Joe , let me know if you find that site . They actually have
a number to call if you find a dalton on your property in Georgia . They want to keep cataloging them . You can keep them but they ask for your help . I sent an Article to Tom on Dunbar ( sp) trying to open that up for Fl so that people won’t be intimidated by the laws and the past lost and put away in a box . In that book I read how when groups of the Paleos got up to 50 a group would move West . So many of my finds in Georgia cross over from Alabama .
Let me know if you get any more info

[Hi-Lo]

Deb, thanks for the heads up on that one.

I look forward to reading the paper.