Interesting Tidbits: First People of the Americas

Although the theory has been met with some controversy in recent years, mainstream archeologist believe that the first human inhabitance in the Americas were a tribe of Paleo-Indians known as the Clovis People. Thought to have crossed into Alaska from Siberia via the Bering Strait land bridge nearing the end of the last Ice Age some 13,500 years ago, the Clovis People inhabited North America; becoming the common ancestors of all indigenous people of North and South America.

The most distinctive artifact of the Clovis culture is the use of a fluted rock spear tip, known as the Clovis point. This stone point is bifacial and fluted on both sides. The typical Clovis spear tip is leaf shaped, with parallel or convex sides and a concave base. They range in length from 1 1/2 to 5 inches. The first Clovis point was found in 1932 in the town of Clovis, NM, for which both the artifacts and culture are named.