Two pre-Clovis sites (Florida and Texas)

Continuing with my series on pre-Clovis sites, today's post will mention two research papers published in Science in 2016 and 2018 describing the ages and artifacts unearthed at pre-Clovis archeological sites in Florida and Texas, USA.

14,550-year-old site in Page-Ladson site, Florida

Jessi J. Halligan et al., Pre-Clovis occupation 14,550 years ago at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, and the peopling of the Americas. Sci. Adv. 2, e1600375(2016). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1600375 reported this site located on the Aucilla River, beneath 9 m (27 ft) of water, on the panhandle side of Florida.

The site had been explored between 1983 and 1997 and the dating of 14.4 ky had been disputed by the Clovis "firsters". Halligan et al. revisited the spot in 2012-2014 and confirmed its antiquity. They recovered several chert tools. Interestingly, the original excavation had found domestic dog bones, but Halligan et al. didn't manage to confirm this finding. If it was verified, the domestic dog would have arrived in America with these pre-Clovis people!

"At Page-Ladson, hunter-gatherers, possibly accompanied by dogs, butchered or scavenged a mastodon carcass at the sinkhole’s edge next to a small pond at ~14,550 cal yr B.P. These people had successfully adapted to their environment; they knew where to find freshwater, game, plants, raw materials for making tools, and other critical resources for survival. This occupation was during the ~14,000 to 15,000 cal yr B.P. period when there is clear evidence that humans were exploring and settling the Americas. Page-Ladson is located ~8500 km from Monte Verde, ~3500 km from Paisley Caves, and ~1500 km from the Schaefer, Hebior, and Friedkin sites, where other successful groups of hunter-gatherers were adapting to those environments. As at other places, the people at Page-Ladson coexisted with and utilized megafauna for ~2000 years before these animals became extinct at ~12,600 cal yr B.P.; however, the role humans played in this extinction process is unknown.
The record of human habitation of the Americas between ~14,000 and 15,000 cal yr B.P. is sparse but real. The rarity of these early sites along the Gulf Coastal Plain of North America is largely due to two factors: sediment preservation, and burial and submergence during the late Pleistocene transgression. Page-Ladson shows that much of the earliest record of human habitation of the American Southeast lies submerged and buried in unique depositional settings like those found along the Aucilla River. This record can only be accessed through underwater investigation, which, if undertaken with intensity and focus, should reveal a rich and abundant pre-Clovis record for the American Southeast."

13,500 to 15,500-year-old site in Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas

Michael R. Waters et al., Pre-Clovis projectile points at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas—Implications for the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas. Sci. Adv. 4, eaat4505(2018).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aat4505 report the excavations at this site in Texas, USA, and reach some interesting conclusions about the origin of the Clofvis points:

"... below Folsom and Clovis horizons, we find stemmed projectile points dating from ~13.5 to ~15.5 ka ago, with a triangular lanceolate point form appearing ~14 ka ago. The sequential relationship of stemmed projectile points followed by lanceolate forms suggests that lanceolate points are derived from stemmed forms or that they originated from two separate migrations into the Americas."

Clovis and Folsom points are lanceolate (leaf-shaped: an oval shape that tapers towards each tip, with a concave base) but all earlier pre-Clovis points are stemmed, meaning they have a tapered tip on one end, and a stem to secure it to a shaft on the other). The Fell Cave tools used in South America are also stemmed, suggesting its earlier introduction into the subcontinent.

The maps below outline their conclusions (it also shows the Florida site in Page-Ladson).

Original image caption. Fig. 6 Proposed models explaining the peopling of the Americas. (A) The earliest people exploring the Americas used stemmed projectile points and traveled along the coast ~16 ka ago, moved inland, and reached the Debra L. Friedkin site by ~15.5 ka ago and South America by ~14.2 ka ago (blue arrows). (B) A triangular lanceolate projectile point form develops in situ from the earlier lanceolate stemmed form ~14 ka ago, with Clovis developing ~13 ka ago and spreading across most of the United States and northern Mexico (red arrows). (C) Alternatively, the origin of Clovis may be explained by a second migration that occurs with people using triangular lanceolate points traveling through the ice-free corridor and reaching the Friedkin site by ~14 ka ago. Clovis develops in situ ~13 ka ago and spreads across central and eastern North America (red arrows). Archaeological sites with ages are shown. Colored regions on the map show the general distribution of Clovis, with highest densities in the east (brown), moderate densities in the central United States (orange), and light densities in the west (yellow), overlapping with the Western Stemmed Tradition shown by the cross-hatch pattern.

This paper suggests that the first people to reach North America did so in boats along the Pacific coast as the ice blocked an inland terrestrial route until 14 ky ago. Then they people moved inland from the coast. The authors propose that the lanceolate Clovis and Folsom points evolved from the stemmed points of these first arrivals or, alternatively, that it was brought by a second wave (now, the Clovis aren't first, but second!) of migrants: "Stemmed points could have arrived with the first people to settle the Pacific and Gulf coasts, while other groups carrying some form of lanceolate point could have entered later through the inland, ice-free corridor."

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall ©