Emily Chan
“In this way, people formed ‘links in a chain’ with yearly routes that likely connected the whole continent, from Michigan to Mexico,” said Brendan Nash, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student of archaeology.
“This is likely why technology from the Clovis period is so similar throughout most of North America.”
The Clovis period is characterized by spear points with central channels called flutes, which run through the length of the points.
The channel was used to attach a shaft to the spearhead, creating a weapon capable of hunting prey of all sizes.
The first Clovis spear point was found in 2008 on the Belson farm field. It led to the discovery of the stone’s origins.
At the site, dozens of other tools were also unburied from beneath the plowed field. They were examined for traces of protein.
The researchers detected evidence of musk, ox, hare, deer or caribou, and peccary—an ancient relative of the pig.
“Taken together, the ancient protein data suggests that these people had a broad spectrum diet, eating a wide variety of animals,” said Nash.
“Our findings are contrary to the popular notion that Clovis people were strictly big game hunters, most often subsisting on mammoths and mastodons.”
Overall, the findings have taught the researchers about a long-lost lifestyle and revealed the travel routes that were taken across the American Midwest during the Pleistocene era.
The results of the recent study were published in PLOS One.
