Clovis Origin Update

Abstract

Recent research sheds new light on the period from 12,000 to 11,500 b.p., which is critical for undertstanding the origin of Clovis culture. Based on evidence available today, it appears likely that, late in the Pleistocene, caucasoid bands, bearing an Upper Paleolithic tool kit, migrated eastward from Central Asia to eastern Siberia and, eventually, across Beringia. On the way, they intermixed with sinodont peoples of northeast Asia in such a way that sinodonty became genetically dominant, but the tool kit was little changed. Between 13,000 and 12,000 b.p., one or more bands moved southward from Alaska through an ever-widening corridor between the retreating glaciers. It was after they passed beyond the remains of the ice barrier that a talented flint knapper invented the fluted projectile point. Whether or not they encountered other people already here remains to be determined.