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WERE CLOVIS PROGENITORS IN BERINGIA?

C. Vance Haynes

The Clovis culture represents the earliest clearly defined culture known in North America and is restricted to a period of only 500 years between 11,500 and 11,000 years ago. Clovis tool kits vary from site to site, and there are regional variations al­ though samples are still woefully inadequate to determine regional differences in lifestyles. Clovis people appear to have been foragers but primarily were hunters of mammoth and bison for both food and material resources. An Old World origin for Clovis seems probable on the basis of comparisons of their bone and stone technology with that of Europe and Siberia during the late Paleolithic. In eastern Siberia before 11,000 BP, there appear to have been two distinct lithic tradi­ tions, one dominated by microblades (Dyuktai) and one without microblades (Mal'ta­ Afontova). Clovis may have been a descendant of the latter people, who crossed Beringia in pursuit of big game between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago when steppe-tundra united the two northern continents. Subsequent decline of steppe-tundra and Pleistocene megafauna after 15,000 BP may have led the hunting cultures farther south-eastward until they passed from the habitats of M. primigenius to those of M. columbi and M. jeffersoni about 13,000 to 12,000 years ago. The nearly explosive increase and spread of the Clovis culture thereafter may have been the direct result of this contact with game resources not previously exploited by man, or at least not with the intensity brought to bear by the Clovis big game specialists. The Clovis dispersal took place during a period of the greatest environmental change subsequent to the end of the Sangamon inter­ glacial. The combination was more than many elements of the Pleistocene megafauna could withstand.

Key words: Paleoindian, Clovis, Quaternary extinction, radiocarbon dating, paleoclimates

Statistical evaluation of 21 dates from the Lehner INTRODUCTION site and 10 dates from the Murray Springs site indicate Clovis in Arizona to be 11,000 ± 100 The Clovis culture, marked by distinctive fluted years old (Fig. 1). This evidence, combined with projectile points commonly found in situ with the lack of evidence of man south of Canada be­ bones of large extinct mammals, represents the fore Clovis, has led me to suggest that Clovis pro­ earliest clearly defined culture known thus far in genitors may have been a distinct infusion of late North America (Hester, 1966). Stratigraphically Pleistocene megafauna hunters from Siberia who, controlled radiocarbon dating has shown that once south of the North American ice sheets, Clovis sites were occupied within a remarkably found abundant game and resources (Haynes, restricted period of only 500 years between 1964). This abundance promoted rapid population 11,500 to 11,000 BP (Haynes, 1970, 1980). growth and expansion of fluted-point-making

PALEOECOLOGY OF BERINGIA Copyright© 1982 by Academic Press, Inc. 383 All rights of r~production in any form reserved. ISBN 0-12·355860·3 384 HAYNES people throughout the Americas in the millenium with Clovis assemblages. This could be the result 11,500-10,500 BP, coincident with the extinction of an insufficient number of radiocarbon-dated of the Pleistocene megafauna (Haynes, 1966). P.S. sites with adequate quantities of artifacts, but, on Martin (1973) has carried this a step further by the other hand when Clovis traits are compared suggesting that Clovis man, being a superpredator, with those of certain Paleolithic cultures in the expanded as a concentrated wave-front leaving Old World, several unmistakable similarities be­ behind a land sparsely populated by man and come evident. devoid of mammoth, horse, camel, and some other If we assume that Clovis progenitors came from elements of the megafauna. eastern Siberia by way of Beringia, then what The main alternate hypothesis for Clovis origin pathways did they use and how are Alaskan finds is that the culture developed within the Americas related to their migration into the New World? In from a population present in the New World be­ order to develop pertinent hypotheses I will first fore late Wisconsin glaciation began 30,000 to examine the Clovis culture, then compare it to Late 50,000 BP (Bryan, 1969; Bonnichsen, 1978; Paleolithic sites of the Old World, and finally Stanford, 1978). examine the record in eastern Beringia for possible The difficulty with a hypothesized indigenous Clovis progenitors. origin for Clovis is the lack of conclusive evidence of the presence of earlier cultures with a develop­ mentally antecedent technology. The dating of THE CLOVIS CULTURE some and the nature of other postulated pre-Clovis sites south of the ice sheets are still equivocal, and The single most diagnostic artifact that reveals tool assemblages from these sites do not reveal a the former presence of Clovis people is the lance­ developmental sequence forming a continuum alate Clovis fluted projectile point. The Clovis

...... ,...... w ..... 0 CQ b 0 b b 0 0 0 0 0 0 RADIOCARBON YRS. B.P. 0 ~ 0 0 0 Lehner {av. of 21) • Murray Springs {av. of 10) • Clovis (av. of 3) 0 1---*--1 r- I I Dent 0 • < I I U.P. Mammoth Site C/)- • f--ei Colby (av.of 2) I • I Domebo { av. of 2) 1---*--1 Clovis (av. of 4)

~ Fotsom (bone) "TI 0 1-*---1 Lindenmeier ( av. of 2) r- C/) 1-:-*---1 Hell Gap (av. of 3) 0 I • I Brewster 3: I • I Hanson (av.of 2) I I Shawnee-Minisink (2) •• De bert { av. of 13) Figure 1. Comparison of radiocarbon dates at stratified sites of fluted point cultures in North America HAYNES 385 point is characterized by one or more long, rela­ during Clovis time than at any time during the tively narrow, longitudinal flake scars removed previous 10,000 years (Haynes, 1968). This may from both sides of the points by applying pressure have played a significant role in animal extinction or percussion to a specially prepared platform at at the end of the Pleistocene. Modern elephants the base. Distinctive Clovis points have been found follow traditional trails and have an affinity for on the surface from the Canadian plains to Central certain springs (Olivier, this volume), and the con­ Mexico and from coast to coast. Where strati­ centration of animals around a reduced number of graphic successions permit, correlations on the end-of-Pleistocene watering places may have basis of culture, fauna, vegetation changes, and enhanced man's role in extinction. Whether radiocarbon dating are consistent. Strata below or not P.S. Martin's (1973) wave-front over­ Clovis levels are without archaeological evidence kill theory is correct, it is apparent that Clovis in spite of evidence of suitable game animals in hunters contributed to the extinction of Pleisto­ the western successions. Levi Rock Shelter, Texas cene megafauna. (Alexander, 1978), and the Dutton-Selby sites, Clovis tool kits vary from site to site, and there Colorado (Stanford, 1979), are claimed to be are suggestions of regional variations, but the exceptions, but the evidence is not convincing. samples are still woefully inadequate. The projec­ Studies of late Quaternary alluvium reveal that tile points are invariably fluted on at least one side most streams in the United States were in a de­ and vary greatly in size and shape. No better gradational mode during the final phase of degla­ example of this variation is known than the eight ciation about 12,000 years ago. By 11,500 BP, Clovis points (Fig. 2) found with the single mam­ Clovis people were occupying riparian sites on moth skeleton at Naco, Arizona (Haury, et al., abandoned terraces along streams that had be­ 1953), and if the other Clovis sites within the San come considerably smaller in channel area than Pedro Valley are taken into consideration an even during the preceding 10,000 years. In the south­ greater variation is seen (Haury, et al., 1959; western United States Clovis sites along these Hemmings and Haynes, 1969; Hemmings, 1970). channels were buried about 11,000 years ago by On the other hand, similar forms can be seen in clayey silts washed from adjacent slopes as aggra­ widely separated regions. dation occurred (Haynes, 1968). Resharpening of Clovis points was a common Mammoths became extinct after 11,000 BP, practice, and impact damage to point tips clearly and Clovis evolved into Folsom, Plano, and other indicates that they were indeed propelled (Fig. 3 ). cultures that developed great skill .in hunting Broken points were reversed in reworking in at bison, one of the few target species of Clovis least one case, and one longitudinally split point hunters to survive into the Holocene. After 7000 from the Lehner site was refluted and the fracture or 8000 BP many smaller tributaries, particularly edges ground before reuse (Haury, et al., 1959, in the Southwest, entered a cycle of gully cutting Fig. 12f). Exotic materials were utilized for some and filling every 2000 years or so; the cycles tend­ points, and clear quartz crystals seem to have been ed to be in phase (within the margins of error for a successfully met challenge to the knapper at the radiocarbon dating) over large areas (Haynes, Lehner and Simon sites, and in Virginia. 1968). Because of this alluvial history many Clovis The use of Clovis points, hafted in short fore­ sites still lie buried beneath modern floodplains, shafts as knives, would seem logical but has not such as that of the Shenandoah River at the been conclusively demonstrated. Edge-wear studies Thunderbird site (Gardner, 1977). Most western in progress will be useful in this regard. Knowledge sites such as Naco (Haury, et al., 1953), Lehner of hafting methods is still speculative in spite of (Haury, et al., 1959), and Domebo (Leonhardy, replication experiments (Lahren and Bonnichsen, 1966) were exposed by gullying during the middle 1974), but several Clovis points display highly Holocene as well as by the modern gullying that burnished spots on their faces, suggesting move­ led to their discovery. ment against·a tight binding. Some stratified Clovis sites in the West have A few Clovis points appear to have been made been associated with springheads. Their proximity from large flakes, but most were reduced from hi­ to water may be significant in that evidence from facial preforms. The collection from the Simon western sites indicates that water tables were lower site in Idaho (Butler, 1963; Butler and Fitzwater, 386 HAYNES

Figure 2. Eight Clovis points found in direct association with a single mammoth skeleton at Naco, Ari zona, display the variations in size and shape to be expected among the weapons of a single band. The longest point measures 116 mm. (Courtesy of the Arizona State Museum) HAYNES 387 1965) is exceptional in that part of it represents a previously (Lahren and Bonnichsen, 1974), but sequence of large, superbly reduced bifaces ending there may be some question about their associa­ with the largest (18.1 em) Clovis points known tion (Taylor, personal communication). No bones (Fig. 4). One of the Simon bifaces is remarkably or bone tools were found at the Simon site (which large, especially when one considers that only half was exposed a few centimeters below the surface of it, measuring 17 x 15 x 1. 7 em, remains. The by a road scraper) but it could also have been a very large yet thin flake scars from this and other grave, and a reddened area observed there (Butler, bifaces reveal great skill and force on the part of 1963) may have been ocher-stained instead of fire­ the knapper. Even large quartz crystals were reddened. In any case, the Anzick site suggests reduced to well-formed bifaces. The other hi­ that large bifaces and Clovis points were con­ faces, 20 in all, as well as the five Clovis points are sidered to be important in the hereafter. all made from five or six varieties of flint (con­ Another suggestion in regard to the selec­ choidally fracturable forms of Si02 : e.g., chert, tion of beautiful materials is that Clovis people chalcedony, jasper, etc.) that are of the finest qual­ may have believed that beautiful weapons were ity known and were obviously carefully selected pleasing to the prey (R. E. Ackerman, personal for their exquisite coloring, translucency, smooth communication). texture, and other aesthetic qualities. This selec­ From the Murray Springs, Arizona, site we have tivity is observable in many Clovis collections, learned that bifaces were used as tools and re­ but reaches a high point in the Simon collection. duced on the spot to produce other bifacial as well Why this aesthetic selectivity and perfection in as flake tools as the need arose (Hemmings, 1970; knapping in the Simon site collection? A clue is Huckell, n.d.). This appears to have been done at provided in the Anzick (Wilsall, Montana) site the Clovis (Blackwater Draw), Williamson, Virginia collection, where similar bifaces and Clovis points (McCarey, 1975), and Wells Creek, Tennessee were found along with bevel-ended bone foreshafts (Dragoo, 1973), sites, although the latter two are and red ocher in what seems to have been a Clovis quarry sites as well. grave (Taylor, 1969; Lahren and Bonnichsen, In both the mammoth and bison kill areas at 1974). The human bones are few, but represent Murray Springs the incredible lack of disturbance two young children. They are not burned as stated of the Clovis occupational surface is revealed by the numerous concentrations of hundreds of hi­ facial thinning flakes. Detailed lithic analyses of these by Bruce Huckell (n.d.) reconfirms the emphasis on biface preparation and modification

Figure 3. Two Clovis points from Murray Springs, Ari­ zona, reveal impact damage. The point on the left was found in the bison kill area and the impact flake in the Figure 4. Bifaces from the Simon site in Idaho are made hunters' camp 138 meters away. The reverse situation from high-quality, beautifully colored flint and may rep­ holds for the point on the right where point, missing its resent a sequence of reduction by knapping ending in one base, was found in the camp and 4 7 meters from the im­ of the largest Clovis points known (181 mm). (Photo­ pact flake in the bison kill area graph of Eichenberger casts) 388 HAYNES suggested by Hemmings (1970). Numerous flakes plished by a combination of direct percussion from from individual clusters of a particular material a platform that had been prepared by beveling the have been fitted together to reconstruct overshot base and by pressure flaking, although some mod­ flakes that extend from one side of a biface to ern lAurignacian style blades in that they are triangular paints to make them thinner was usually accom- in the transverse section, thickset toward the distal

Figure 5. Reassembly of bifacial reduction flakes from the Murray Springs site, Arizona, has allowed determination of approximate widths for bifaces not found at the site. The overall length of this assembly is 47 mm HAYNES 389 end, and have ground platforms with edge angles another Old World trait, removal of the bulb of of 60° to 71°. Tools on such blades include end percussion by pressure flaking (Fig. 8). scrapers, side scrapers, concave scrapers, and com­ Bone tools were undoubtedly more important binations thereof. Blade cores are rare but are in the Clovis industries than the few that have known from the Williamson site (Haynes, 1972). been found would indicate. Examples include awls No microblades are known from Clovis assem­ or punches, scrapers, flcshers, points, cylindrical blages, but objects from the Shoop site in Penn­ points and foreshafts, a bead, and a shaft wrench. sylvania have been interpreted as microblade cores An inscribed bone was found at the Clovis site (Witthoft, 19 52). Similar objects from the De bert (Hester, 1972) and a cylindrical ivory point from site are considered to be wedging and grooving Florida has a simple zigzag mark engraved on two tools (pieces esquilles). MacDonald (1968) and sides (Fig. 9) (Haynes, 1976). This point and others Cox (n.d.) apply the same interpretation to Shoop like it were most likely made from fresh ivory be­ spec1mens. cause the axis crosses the cone-in-cone structure of Burins are rare in Clovis assemblages and when the tusk from which it was made, and fossil ivory present are commonly incorporated into other tools such as a flake knife from Murray Springs (Hemmings, 1970). This particular tool displays

Figure 6. The thinning of some bifaces at some Clovis sites was done by a combination of fluting and transverse flaking as displayed on these specim ens: two from the Williamson site, Virginia, right; and one from Murray Springs site, Arizona, left. Middle specimen is 98 mm long. (Eichenberger casts)

Figure 8. This Clovis combination tool from Murray Springs, Ari zona, is made from a large flake with edges retouched for cutting and scraping, and an end m ade into a burin by special preparation and the removal of three burin spalls. These features as well as the pressure-flake Figure 7. This cache of chert blades was uncovered in the removal of the bu lh of percussion from the ventral side Clovis horizon at Blackwater No. 1 locality by mechanical are common features on some artifacts of the Old World equipment in 1962 (Green, 1963 ). (Eichenberger casts) Late Paleolithic. Length of p iece is 67 mm HAYNES 391 two known bison-kill sites, and both show evi­ atically killed at one time by Clovis hunters. If dence that the animals were in low areas with wet this were true one might further speculate that the ground when they were apparently surrounded single mammoths associated with Clovis points at and attacked by Clovis hunters (Hemmings, 1970; Naco, Escapule, and Murray Springs sites are ones Hester, 1972). Whether Clovis points were used on that got away from the Lehner slaughter. On the spears, lances, or darts propelled with the aid of a other hand, the simultaneous slaughter of 13 throwing stick (atlatl) is not known, but impact seemingly healthy mammoths by even a coalition fractures on several Murray Springs examples from of Clovis bands is difficult to imagine without the bison kill (Fig. 3) indicate propulsion with a more formidable weapons than shafts tipped with force upon impact at least as great as that applied Clovis points of stone, bone, or ivory. by a knapper in fluting or striking off a moderate­ Mammoths of the Pleistocene were more like sized thinning flake, and this after presumably the living Indian elephant (E. maximus) than the penetrating several centimeters of hide and flesh. African species (Loxodonta africana), but there is In the collection of Clovis points from the bison­ no way of knowing whether the behavior of mam­ kill area several were snapped in half and some moths hunted by Clovis people was similar to the had the basal corner o.r "ears" broken off. Proper defensive behavior of modern elephants. In the understanding of Clovis-point damage will help us absence of a time machine, the observations on understand their function. African elephants by the Douglas-Hamiltons On the other hand, Clovis points from mam­ (197 5) and on Asian elephants by Olivier (this moth-kill sites show relatively little damage, al­ volume) offer the best information available. The though many appear to have been resharpened. Douglas-Hamiltons find that, aside from elephants Tips broken by lateral snapping represent the most being defensive and protective of one other, the common form of breakage. Do these observations only generalization that can be made about ele­ imply different techniques for penetrating mam­ phant behavior is that it cannot be generalized. moth versus bison with Clovis points? Replication Elephants are highly individualistic; and they are experiments are much needed in this regard, but led by matriarchs who very much determine the judging from observations on the thickness and temperament of their family unit. The attitudes toughness of modern elephant hide (Huckell, of elephant groups range from timid and wary to 1979) it is questionable whether spears, even with threatening when approached by man. Individual the aid of an atlatl, could penetrate 2 em or more variations in behavior are similar, and commonly of fresh hide and still reach deep enough to affect reach extremes in which some individuals are bel­ the heart. A neck shot severing the spinal nerve ligerent and attack in earnest without warning. might kill, but the hunter would have to be Some individual elephants when in trouble or standing on ground higher than the animal's neck. wounded elicit great concern on the part of other Some of the bone and ivory points from Flor­ elephants, who will rally to their aid even at the ida springs and rivers have almost needle-sharp tips risk of death. Other individuals become practi­ and possibly could penetrate mammoth hide more cally outcasts and do not receive the concern that readily. Two cylindrical bone points from the others might. Some elephants become trusting and Blackwater No. 1 Clovis site have relatively blunt approachable after repeated exposure to man in points by comparison, but this may be partly a situations where no danger arises, and young bulls result of post-depositional corrosion. engaged in sham battles are commonly unaware of It has been assumed that mammoths were being approached by humans. However, the threat attacked one at a time by Clovis hunters, but behavior of an individual-and just how far it will recently Saunders ( 1977) questioned this. He go in charging a human-is consistent and there­ found that the Lehner site assemblage is not one fore predictable. marked by specific age (i.e., young, tender, and Marks (this volume) points out that the Bisa unwary), but represents instead the normal age and other hunters in Africa "know" individual distribution of a family unit when compared to animals and can predict their behavior. The Bisa African elephants. On this basis he proposes that are sedentary whereas Clovis hunters most likely the Lehner assemblage was a single family of 13 were far-ranging, but even so Clovis men prob­ mammoths from two to 30 years of age system- ably could have determined which individual 392 HAYNES mammoths were the most vulnerable within a few beauty. They knew of and made use of many of hours or days of observation. These traits would the major aboriginal chert quarries known in the have made the successful hunting of mammoths conterminous United States. Many collections dependent upon keen observation of individuals reveal that they used multiple local sources within in the family unit. Selection by Clovis hunters a few tens of kilometers of each other as well as would appear to have been based on the behavior material from as far as 300 km away. This figure and not the age of the elephants. Because some be­ of 300 km for the maximum distance from lithic havior is independent of age, an accumulation of sources turns up repeatedly in the literature. Con­ individual mammoth kills might appear to have the sidering the relatively brief time span of their age distribution of a family unit. culture and the lack of evidence of previous in­ Most of the mammoth kills took place on low habitants, Clovis men must have been skilled ground at springs, along a creek, or in a pond, prospectors. This should not be surprising con­ suggesting that the animals were ambushed at sidering that flint was probably the most impor­ watering places. There is no evidence of mam­ tant raw material to their economy and way of moths actually being stuck, but the wet ground life. Procurement of other raw materials such as may have restricted their freedom of movement. wood, bone, ivory, hide, and sinew was to no small It appears that the animals were observed at water degree dependent on an adequate supply of flint holes until a suitable individual presented an op­ The discovery of a new and dependable source portune target. Primitive techniques, such as dis­ must have been cause for great joy, and all the embowelment or hamstringing, that work well more so if it had attractive colors or patterns. Such with keen-edged steel probably would not work a find could open up new territories and extend with stone, because a sawing action would be their range of foraging. It could also provide new needed to cut through the hide. All indications are material for barter or trade. In this regard, an al­ that the prey was dropped pretty much where ternative explanation of the Simon site bifaces and attacked. Upon being attacked near a watering Clovis points is that they may have been either a place it is likely that a mammoth would head away cache of materials to be traded or a tradesman's from deeper water. On the other hand, a wounded set of samples. Many of the ridges between flake and dying animal might head for water. The use scars are worn as if they had rubbed against each of poison in conjunction with Clovis points is a other during transport, presumably in a leather bag. possibility suggested by the late Louis S.B. Leakey In a re-evaluation of the Shoop site, Cox (n.d.) (personal communication), but it is impossible to points out the high degree of utilization (to the evaluate at present. point of near exhaustion) of the flint tools and the I can imagine a hunter taking advantage of a fact that most of the raw material came from near­ mammoth's threat-charge. For instance, he could ly 300 km away. This suggests that a local source have used a long slender lodgepole set against a of flint had not yet been located by the Shoop stop and tipped with a Clovis and raised point at band, because closer sources were used by later just the right moment to receive the full force of Indians. the advancing pachyderm. In any case, I feel cer­ How chert or chalcedony was mined in Clovis tain that in order to successfully hunt mammoths time is unknown, but presumably techniques were Clovis people studied and took advantage of the similar to those of later Amerinds who used large predictable behavior of individuals. The same prob­ stone mauls on outcrops and dug pits when surface ably held for bison, but for small groups instead exposures were depleted. It is doubtful that fire of individuals. was ever used to deliberately fracture flint because There is no evidence of the use of traps, dead­ heating flint enough to fracture renders it useless. falls or drives by Clovis hunters (Frison, 1978), On the other hand, there is evidence that some and if abatis or barriers were used, as they may cherts were gently heat-treated to improve their have been at the Murray Springs bison kill (Hem­ knapping qualities (Purdy and Brooks, 1971; mings, 1970), they have long since decayed away. Fitting, et al., 1966). Another Clovis characteristic alluded to earlier Clovis sites are relatively small compared to was their expl()itation, for knapping, of flint of the later Folsom and Plano sites. Murray Springs has highest quality and of considerable aesthetic three principal activity areas: a mammoth-kill HAYNES 393 area, bison-kill area, and an associated hunting south of the Mackenzie Valley in Canada before camp. Tools and points from all three areas total Clovis time. only 36 pieces. The mammoth-kill area of 300m2 To summarize: Clovis people appear in general contained 6 tools (including 3 points) and over to have been foragers, mainly hunting mammoths 10,000 flakes in clusters indicating tool sharpen­ and bison as both food and material resrouces. A ing and biface thinning, resulting presumably from typical tool kit that might be found among a band butchering. The bison kill area of 450m2 contained of Clovis people would contain, in addition to the 10 points and 7 tools, plus about 2500 thinning diagnostic projectile points, knives on biracial and sharpening flakes. The camp area 40 to 100m thinning flakes (some with graver or borer tips); away covers about 200m2, and contains 6 broken end scrapers (some with spurs) on both flakes and projectile points, 1 resharpened point, 7 flake blades; side scrapers on large flakes and blades; tools, 6 blade tools, 2 bifaces, and hundreds of notched blades; well-made bifacial preforms of thinning and sharpening flakes. The camp's rela­ various sizes that could serve as choppers; and a tion to the bison kill is unequivocably displayed variety of bone and ivory tools of which only two by an impact flake, found among bison bones, forms, bevel-based cylindrical objects and a shaft that matches a damaged Clovis point from the straightener have been preserved in Clovis sites. camp, and by the reverse situation as well (Fig. 3). Their big-game take was commonly a single mam­ Part of a mammoth long bone and a mammoth moth which was only partially butchered and - tooth from the camp area also indicate ties with utilized, or a small group of bison which were dis­ the mammoth kill. On the basis of the evidence of membered and apparently more efficiently utilized 11 bison killed and estimates of the potential meat than mammoth kills. provided thereby, Hemmings (1970) proposes a The small amount of available data indicates band size of 50 to 100 people. This seems large, that the basic Clovis tool kit was the same, except and judging from the small size of the camp area, for minor local components, whether in the east­ I consider it a maximum. The Naco mammoth had ern or western parts of the continent and regard­ eight Clovis points in its skeleton, four times more less of environment. This and the wide-ranging than have been found with any other mammoth. flint sources confirm a high degree of mobility and This suggests that it may have got away from its lack of dependence on the resources of a restricted hunters only to die shortly thereafter. If it is environment. Clovis people appear to have wan­ assumed that each point belonged to a separate dered over extensive areas looking for lithic sources hunter, at least eight men had attacked. If there and exploiting the megafauna, usually at watering were two points per hunter, four would have been places. The degree to which vegetation was utilized involved. The actual number probably falls be­ in their economy is unknown due to lack of pres­ tween these figures and may represent one-fifth of ervation, but presumably it was great. Clovis camp­ a band population of 20 to 40 men and children. sites were small and located only a few tens of The Folsom culture, which followed Clovis and meters away from their game takes. Hearths were obviously developed from it, specialized in hunting shallow basins less than 3 m in maximum dimen­ bison, the mammoth having become extinct or sion, no deeper than 20 em, and without stones. very nearly so (Owl Cave, Idaho, may be a Folsom­ Similar depressions without charcoal are common Mammoth association-Don and Miller, 1977). at Murray Springs. At kill sites, bifaces were used Some Folsom sites are approximately the same for butchering and were sharpened or reshaped on size as Clovis sites, but others are much larger and the spot, producing distinct piles or clusters of apparently represent repeated rendezvous of debitage. Hunting camps adjacent to kills contain several bands (Wilmsen, 1974). Bull Brook, Debert, end scrapers and point bases, indicating wood, Holcombe, Wapanucket, and Reagan are eastern bone, and hide-working and projectile repairs. sites of fluted point makers contemporary with Reverence for the dead and a belief in the here­ Folsom. After Clovis time the increase in site size after is suggested by the magnificent grave goods and number of sites indicates a significant increase and red ocher at the Anzick site. in both population and cultural diversity. Extrapo­ lating back in time we see few, if any, people 394 HAYNES Atchinsk is another man-mammoth site on the Ob MAMMOTH HUNTING SITES River. OF THE OLD WORLD Farther east, on the middle Yenisei, are several mammoth-hunting sites, the most important of From Klein's (1969) review of the Late Paleo­ which appear to be Afontova Gora II and Ko­ lithic of the Kostienki-Borshevo region it is ap­ korevo II in deposits of the second and third parent that some mammoth-hunting sites of the terraces. Horizon C-3 at Afontova Gora II pro­ Don Valley bear resemblances to Clovis sites and duced bones of six mammoths as well as remains to Clovis artifacts as well, but there are consider­ of reindeer, arctic fox, and arctic hare, which were able differences as might be expected, considering even more abundant. These were associated with that the areas are 14,000 km apart. Sites in humus fire areas and numerous artifacts including bifaces, layers of the T-2 terrace of the Don River are side scrapers, end scrapers, flake points, notches, relatively small compared to those in younger backed blades, burins, borers, and large numbers deposits. Many of the artifacts there reveal a tool of retouched flakes and blades. Bone artifacts in­ technology comparable to Clovis, including hi­ cluded cylindrical projectile points (some with facial projectile points, end scrapers, side scrapers, lateral grooves), polishers, awls, needles, ivory borers, and a few blades associated with many spheres, and antler shaft straighteners. bones, including remains of Mammuthus primigen­ Associated with bones of Mammuthus primi­ ius (Muller-Beck, 1967). Hearths in the T -2 sites genius at Kokorevo II were borers, end scrapers, are commonly of similar size and configuration to flake points, wedge-shaped cores, plano-convex the Murray Springs examples, and burned bone is biface scrapers, bone projectile points, polishers, present. awls, needles, and ornaments: At -both Afontova The age of these earlier occupations of the Gora II (C-3) and Kokorevo II flake tools are pre­ second terrace of the Don is uncertain, but 20,000 dominant. The grooved-bone points are character­ to 15,000 BP is a reasonable limit from the avail­ istic and imply the use of micro blade inserts. able geochronology and clearly confirms a Sartan The famous sites of Mal'ta and Buret I on the age (Klein, 1969). upper Angara River contained evidence of slab­ In eastern Europe, the mammoth-hunter camps lined structures, cache pits, a grave with red ocher of Pavlov and Dolni Vestonice, 26,000-24,000 and ivory ornaments, and a variety of flake tools radiocarbon years old, reveal a culture oriented and some blades. Long cylindrical bone projectile toward the utilization of mammoths for every­ points with beveled bases are represented, and thing from food to housing made out of mammoth many art objects carved from bone or ivory bones (Klima, 1963). were found with a mammoth at Mal'ta, level 2. The use of bone and ivory for tools and art Neither microblades and wedge-shaped cores work shows these materials to be equal in import­ nor slotted bone points were present at either ance to the stone used to make blade, flake and Mal'ta or Buret I. bifacial tools. Red ocher is prevalent and many The recent discoveries at Dyuktai Cave and in bone tools are similar to the Clovis beveled-base related terraces of the Aldan River are of particu­ bone points, shaft straighteners, and a cylindrical lar interest because of the occurrence in the lower ivory piece about 5 em in diameter and 10 em long levels of bifacial projectile points as well as oval found at the Blackwater Draw Clovis site in 1962. and triangular knives; discoidal, Levallois, and Of even more interest in regard to Old World wedge-shaped cores; multifaceted burins, large potential sources of New World cultures are the side scrapers, small end scrapers on blades, and Late Paleolithic sites of Siberia (Klein, 1971). It is numerous retouched flakes, all associated with again apparent that there are no direct cultural ties many large animal bones including Mammuthus with the Clovis sites. At Tomsk on the upper Ob primigenius. However, the abundance of small River, end scrapers, flakes, blades, and prismatic blades and wedge-shaped cores in the collections cores with traces of fire were found in association on display in 1973 at the Bering land bridge con­ with a single carcass of Mammuthus primigenius in ference in Khabarovsk is so unlike any known terrace deposits of Sartan age. It may be significant Paleoindian mammoth-hunting assemblage that I that a microblade technology was not represented. see no obvious relationship. HAYNES 395 The Dyuktai Culture as defined by Mochanov beveled-base bone points (Mal'ta), the use of grave (1976) lasted from 30,000 to 11,000 years ago goods with red ocher (Mal'ta), bifacial basally and has left wedge-shaped cores and microblades thinned projectile points (Kostienki), end scrapers as essential artifacts. On the other hand, the tool (Kostienki), blades from prismatic cores (many assemblages from Mal'ta, Buret I, and Tomsk are sites), bone polishers (Afontova Gora), flake without microblades and wedge-shaped cores and knives, and hearths in shallow depressions (Klein, represent a flake-using (as opposed to microblade­ 1971). To me it is unlikely that this assemblage of using) culture or cultures in part contemporaneous traits was derived in the New World independently with Dyuktai. of the Late Paleolithic of the Old World. Notably absent from stratified Clovis sites are The sites of Afontova Gora II, Mal'ta, and any forms displaying art work, but red ocher is Buret I suggest that some Late Paleolithic hunters known from the Anzick site mentioned earlier, had moved as far east as central Siberia as early where Clovis points, large bifaces, and beveled­ as 20,000 years ago and overlapped there the base bone foreshafts coated with red ocher were microblade-dominated Dyuktai culture which may found concentrated in a small area and possibly have reached eastern Siberia at about the same in association with two child skeletons (Taylor, time from places farther southeast. Muller-Beck 1969, and personal communication; Lahren and (this volume) concludes that mammoth-hunting Bonnichsen, 1971). The zigzag design on the cultures originally derived from the west could Florida beveled-base ivory point also mentioned have reached eastern Siberia as early as 30,000 earlier may be the earliest example of such art years ago, but he questions the existence ther,e of known from the New World. the Dyuktai culture with a microblade technology From this brief and cursory examination the at such an early date. In any case, the occurrence most significant fact to emerge is that the Late of an eastern-European-type mammoth-hunting Paleolithic assemblages at mammoth-bearing sites culture (Clovis) in central North America 12,000 in Siberia represent at least two different tradi­ to 11,000 years ago is a reasonable basis for the tions. One is a predominantly flake industry with hypothesis that Clovis progenitors from Siberia large blades, although the presence of slotted bone had reached eastern Beringia 14,000 to 12,000 points implies at least some use of microblades. years ago if not before. The other is characterized by wedge-shaped cores and microblades. Bifacial foliate forms of various sizes occur in both. Cylindrical bone points found THE BERINGIAN CONNECTION at some sites commonly differ from New World forms in not having beveled bases and in being If the Clovis culture represents a late Pleistocene slotted along two sides, presumably to accommo­ infusion into America from Siberia, where is evi­ date microblades. Specimens from Mal'ta are an dence of Clovis progenitors in Alaska and Yukon outstanding exception because those on display at Territory, and how old should it be? In Siberia and the museum in Irkutsk show a remarkable resem­ far-eastern U.S.S.R., Mochanov (1978a) has de­ blance to the beveled-based bone points from fined the Dyuktai culture as a technology of Clovis sites. Shaft straighteners from Afontova wedge-shaped cores, micro blades, and bifaces used Gora II are made from antlers, in the central by people hunting Pleistocene megafauna at least European fashion. The Murray Springs specimen, as early as 18,000 years ago. By 10,000 BP, a which more closely resembles those from Molo­ clearly related culture is in Alaska, where the dava and Pekarna Cave in Europe, is made from Denali (West, 1976), Akmak (Anderson, 1970), the wall of a mammoth long bone (Haynes and and Gallagher (Dixon, 1975) assemblages are ob­ Hemmings, 1968). viously derived from Dyuktai (if they are not, in Clovis artifact assemblages more closely resemble fact, a part of it), but none bear much resemblance those from the Old World Late Paleolithic big-game to Clovis assemblages. All that can be said with­ hunting sites (Klein, 1969) than do possible pre­ assurance about the maximum age of the arctic Clovis assemblages in the New World, such as core-and-blade tradition in Alaska is that 10,690 Pikimachay Cave in Peru and the El Horno site in ± 250 (SI-1561) seems to be a valid date for the Mexico (MacNeish, 1978). Similarities include core-and-blade component represented by Horizon 396 HAYNES II at Dry Creek and that it is earlier than the date other hand, it has been argued that fluted points of 9857 ± 155 BP (K-1583) at the Onion Portage found in Alaska are post-Clovis and represent in­ site (Hamilton, 1970). In the lowest cultural level flux from the south (Bryan, 1969; Dixon, 1975). of the Dry Creek site in central Alaska, Powers and Typologically most of the Alaskan forms are small Hamilton (1978) have found triangular bifacial and have multiple fluting scars (Clark, 1978). points, Paleoindian-style scrapers, and flake tools Some closely resemble fluted points from the Hol­ in a level dated 11,120 ± 85 BP (SI-2880)(Thorson combe, Michigan, site (Fitting, et al., 1966), and and Hamilton, 1977). Microblades are absent, the Great Basin area (Davis, 1973; Touhy, 1968). whereas the next-youngest level contains a micro­ There is no positive dating for this type, but the blade and core assemblage. In Siberia, as we have artifacts at the Holcombe site are believed to be seen, there are sites without microblades where the latest form of fluted points and of the same flake tools, bifaces, and, in some cases, cylindrical age as the second stage of Lake Algonquin, which bone points occur in association with bones of existed between 11,000 and 10,500 BP (Karrow, Pleistocene megafauna. Mochanov ( 1978b) recog­ et al., 1975). Indisputable Clovis points also occur nizes the existence there of another cultural tradi­ in the Great Basin as surface finds, but are rarer tion, "Mal'ta-Afontova", which is without micro­ and possibly older than the Holcombe type. On blades and more like the early Late Paleolithic of the other hand, two point bases from the Putu site eastern Europe. It is possible, therefore, that two in the Brooks Range of Alaska are similar and distinct traditions also coexisted in Beringia before probably related to a charcoal date of 11,470 ± 11,000 BP. If Clovis was derived from one of these 500 BP (SI-2382) (Alexander, 1974, and personal it most likely would be the one without micro­ communication). If this association is valid it blades. Aside from the lack of compelling evidence, makes at least these two Alaskan fluted points as a problem with this hypothesis is the question it old as the oldest fluted points (Clovis) from raises of how the "Mal'ta-Afontova" tradition interior North America. could get to Beringia through eastern Siberia with­ A different type of fluted point found in Al­ out being transformed by contact with Dyuktai. berta is sometimes called a triangular fluted point. Some cultural mixing and transformation would There are four of these in the museum at the Uni­ seem likely and may be manifest in the occurrence versity of Alberta, of which three are from the of bone points slotted for microblades seen in the Birch Hills area 320 km northwest of Edmonton collections from Afontova Gora II and Kokorevo; (Bonnichsen, personal communication). Unfortu­ but this does not explain the absence of micro­ nately, all are from the surface, so their age is un­ blades in Clovis assemblages. certain, but they do have technological similarities The bone artifacts from the Old Crow Flats, to triangular points from Kostienki and the Dry if indeed they are all artifacts (Morlan, this vol­ Creek site. ume), are pre-Clovis, but may be unrelated to Clovis. Until stratified occupation sites are found at Old Crow any relation to the problem of Clovis CONCLUSIONS origin is equivocal at best. Where the technology of fluting bifacial pro­ At our present state of knowledge there are too jectile points originated is another problematic few well-dated, stratified archaeological sites in question. If the combination of disappearance of Beringia to allow convincing conclusions to be steppe-tundra vegetation and human predation drawn about (1) the earliest peoples to enter the caused the extinction of the arctic-steppe mega­ New World from northeast Asia, (2) how many fauna by 12,000 BP, as is suggested by Morlan separate movements there may have been, and (3) (1977a), the development of fluting could have how any of these movements were those of Clovis taken place in Alaska or along an ice-free corridor progenitors. Therefore, the hypothetical model of sometime between 14,000 and 12,000 years ago Clovis origin I will develop here is based on assump­ when the Bering Strait had isolated North America tions that I believe best fit the meager facts we from Siberia. Even though the strait may not have have to go on, but there is so little evidence that been a significant barrier (Hopkins, 1978), fluted my interpretations are little more than speculation. points did not cross it in either direction. On the Many of the Late Paleolithic mammoth-hunter HAYNES 397 sites of Eurasia show similarities in artifacts and and Mal'ta-farther east-is believed to be approxi­ features such as dwellings, fireplaces, and ocher mately of the same age (Tseitlin, 1979). burials. While game takes were not exclusively Beringia reached its maximum extent as sea mammoths, the socioeconomic orientation of the level approached its lowest level 20,000 to 15,000 cultures toward the hunting and utilization of years ago (Hopkins, personal communication). mammoth meat, hide, bones, and ivory is clearly Steppe-tundra vegetation once again expanded manifest. The mammoth was to the Paleolithic eastward, and undoubtedly Late Paleolithic hunt­ hunter as the reindeer is to the Laplander or the ers followed it. Two unslotted bone points from inland Eskimo. On the basis of the similarities the muck deposits of Goldstream near Fairbanks, among Clovis bone and stone artifact assemblages Alaska (Rainey, 1939), may have belonged to and such Late Paleolithic hunting camps as Pavlov, Clovis progenitors. Dolni Vestonice, level 5 of Kostienki I, and many By 15,000 BP inundation of the Bering Strait others, I assume that the earliest root for Clovis was underway as rapid melting of continental stems from Europe during the early Late Paleolithic glaciers occurred. By 14,000 BP Alaska was sep­ (Gravettian-Aurignacian), about 28,000 years ago. arated from Siberia. Exactly when M. primigenius Mammoth hunters moving eastward gave rise to became extinct in Alaska is unknown, but soft such sites as Afontova Gora II, Mal'ta and Buret I parts have been dated as late as 15,380 ± 300 BP sometime between 25,000 and 15,000 BP. During (SI-453). It is accompanied by a comment that an this time cultural diversity had already developed artifact may have been in association, but no fur­ in eastern Siberia, where Dyuktai people had ac­ ther word has appeared (Stuckenrath and Mielke, quired a core-and-blade technology. Bifacial points 1970, p. 203 ). A skeletal part is dated as 13,500 ± or knives at Dyuktai Cave and bone points slotted 100 BP (QC 1365) (Matthews, this volume, Fig. 2). for micro blades at Afontova Gora may be evidence This is the latest date for mammoth that I have of cultural mixing, but some people apparently did been able to find in the literature. not adopt microblades. It may be these Mal'ta­ After 15,000 BP deglaciation was rapid, and Afontova descendants that entered Beringia with there appears to have been little in the way of artifacts characterized by bifaces, blades, and glacial ice to obstruct the passage of man and cylindrical bone and ivory points between 20,000 megafauna through Canada between the western and 15,000 years ago. edge of Laurentide ice and the Cordillera (Rutter, One of the major contributions that the Wenner­ 1978). So by the time megafauna were becoming Gren symposium made to my thinking was the extinct in Alaska perhaps 13,000 years ago, Clovis recognition that much of northern Eurasia during progenitors may have been able to continue find­ the last glaciation remained unglaciated and be­ ing woolly mammoths southward until about came covered with a loess (aeolian) substrate 1,000 years or so later when their descendants had (Tomirdiaro, this volume) that supported a steppe­ reached the Canadian prairie plains and had en­ tundra mosaic (Giterman, Sher, and Matthews; countered new species of megafauna, including Matthews; Young, this volume), stretching from two species of mammoths (M. columbi and M. Europe to Alaska under a cold dry, continental jeffersoni). By 11,500 BP the distinctive Clovis climate. Riparian habitats within this mosaic point had been developed, and less than 1,000 (Schweger, Young, Ager, this volume) may have years later, Clovis people had spread from Edmon­ provided the nutritional diversity favoring mega­ ton, Alberta, to Guadalajara, Mexico, and to the fauna in general and M. primigenius in particular Atlantic and PaCific coasts. By 11,000 BP all (Olivier, this volume). These conditions, in conjunc­ elements of the megafauna except bison were gone, tion with the mobility of certain elements of the and the Clovis culture with it. In less time than the megafauna, would have led Late Paleolithic hunters precision of radiocarbon dating can resolve, the with a technology adapted to the cold climate Clovis culture had changed to Folsom, Midland, (Jelinek, 1965) farther eastward as their hunting Plainview, and other cultures of regional distribu­ success and mammoth-oriented economy led to tion. This transition led southward through Central more frequent band nucleation. Relatively rapid America to produce stemmed fluted points which expansion eastward is indicated by radiocarbon may be as old as 11,000 BP at Tierra del Fuego, at dates of about 22,000 BP for Afontova Gora II, the southern tip of South America (Bird, 1969). 398 HAYNES The suggestion that man could walk through ture throughout the United States, southern Canada 12,000 years ago and have descendants Canada, and northern Mexico took place during reach Tierra del Fuego a millennium later is unac­ the period of greatest environmental change since ceptable to some, but a thousand years can yield the end of the Sangamon interglacial. Between about 40 generations. I find no difficulty with 12,000 and 10,000 years ago there were major such a rate of movement, especially considering changes in global climate, local and regional vege­ the character of the people and the rapidly chang­ tation, and erosional-depositional processes and ing ecological conditions. As a band or two would hydrology, and many forms of Pleistocene animals move southward, successful hunting would pro­ became extinct. Whether climatic change or man mote population growth. Since there were few, if was the prime cause of extinction is ardently de­ any, competing cultures, new bands would form bated. and move into new areas. Furthermore, the ex­ Guthrie (this volume) recounts morphological ploration of new territory may have been just as evidence that the late Pleistoc~!le megafaunas were \ \ much a cultural drive then as it has been in his­ under significant stress as the Pleistocene ended, torical time, especially in the absence or near ab­ but that megafauna had survived other periods of sence of other peoples. Each new valley would climatic stress during previous interglacials. Fur­ have been a potential source for new flint quarries, thermore, man was present in the Old World new family groups of mammoths, new plant re­ during those earlier interglacials. Such conditions sources, and new watering places. Within a year, of stress have been, in fact, likely catalysts for a newly arrived band could be familiar both with natural selection and evolutionary change, but one the environment and the behavior of individual significantly different factor at the end of the mammoths in several family units. In a few more Pleistocene was that men were now highly skilled years, they may have cropped most of the easily specialists in hunting large mammals. Theirs were taken individuals and dropped that. va1iey from hunting societies with skills and technologies their seasonal round in favor of another. adapted not just to surviving but to providing As the transition to Holocene climate pro­ enough resources to allow time for religion, cere­ gressed water tables fell, many streams became mony, and artistic endeavors that included aesthetic ephemeral, and reliable watering places were as well as functional forms. I agree with Jelinek's fewer. Megafauna under stress become more vul­ (1967) view that the presence of skilled Late Paleo­ nerable to hunting. Although large mammoths lithic hunters (superpredators as P.S. Martin called would have become scarce, neither the scope nor them in 1967) at a time of interglacial environ­ the scale of the impending extinction would have mental stress provided the fatal combination that been obvious. Longer forays could result in larger led to large-scale megafauna! extinction. The areas being covered. The southward movement rock art of the Old World, depicting various would have accelerated through the narrows of elements of the megafauna, may have been Paleo­ Central America and along the west coast of lithic man's appeal to the Gods to save his prey South America until Tierra del Fuego was reached from extinction. about 11,000 years ago. This scenario differs from Mosimann and P.S. Martin's (1975), in that theirs postulates a low human population behind their hypothetical wave front. On the contrary, in cent­ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ral North America I see a continuity in which the Clovis culture is transformed into Folsom, Mid­ My research on the geochronology of alluvial land, Plainview, and other Paleoindian cultures stratigraphy and Paleoindian sites has been gener­ that maintain a bison-hunting economy once the ously supported by the National Science Founda­ mammoths are gone. The continued success and tion, the National Geographic Society, and the growing populations of those successor cultures University of Arizona. This work has benefited are manifest in greater numbers of sites, larger greatly from discussion with colleagues of this sites, and in the greater cultural diversity that con­ symposium as well as others too numerous to tinued into the historic period (Haynes, 1967). mention individually, but I alone take full respon­ The spread and development of the Clovis cui- sibility for its errors and defects. This document is copyrighted material.

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NOV 1 9 1984 a,_~ 72...?:::, .\LASKA RJ•~ROUHC:l~~ LIBRARY U.S. DEl'T. OF L~! :oR·w~~ l q8'z PALEOECOLOGY OF BERINGIA

Edited by

DAVID M. HOPKINS U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park, California JOHN V. MATTHEWS, JR. Geological Survey of Canada Ottawa, Ontario, Canada CHARLES E. SCHWEGER Department of Anthropology University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada STEVEN B. YOUNG Center for Northern Studies Wolcott, Vermont

Technical Editor Vincent Stanley Pine, Colorado

ARLIS Alaska Resources Library & Information SerVices 1982 Anch~rJg.:. Alaska @ ACADEMIC PRESS A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers NEW YORK LONDON PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SAO PAULO SYDNEY TOKYO TORONTO