CLOVIS COMPLEX

ancient culture centred primarily on the plateau or tableland of Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas. (It is so named from the first important site examined, in 1932, near Clovis, N.M.) This culture, which probably began sometime prior to 10,000 BC, is generally considered to be ancestral to the later Folsom complex. Like Folsom, the Clovis complex was part of the ancient big-game hunting tradition. In Arizona, Clovis projectile points have been found in undisputable association with mammoth bones. The most problematical Clovis find comes from a site in Texas where a Clovis point was found in hearths that yielded a radioactive-carbon date of greater than 37,000 years. This would mean that Clovis points persisted unchanged for around 27,000 years, an assumption archaeologists find difficult to accept. The typical Clovis point is leaf shaped, with parallel or slightly convex sides and a concave base. The edges of the basal portions are ground somewhat, probably to prevent the edge from severing the hafting cord. Clovis points range in length from 1 1/2 to 5 inches (4 to 13 centimetres) and are heavy and fluted, though the fluting rarely exceeds half the length. Some eastern variants of Clovis, called Ohio, Cumberland, or Suwannee, depending on their origin, are somewhat fish tailed and also narrower relative to length. Also associated with Clovis are such implements as bone tools, hammerstones, scrapers, and unfluted projectile points.