Senior Research Project
Senior Research Project
After a very long time of going back and forth between unmanageable and complicated projects, it seemed like a miracle when I was finally able to settle in on a realistic research question. I had been looking at every aspect from home renovation to massive service projects, but none of them were reasonable, or, quite frankly, something that I would enjoy doing. However, after a long talk with my college forum adviser and lots of research, I finally came up with an interesting question that would yield some real results: What is the difference between Western American and Eastern American Clovis technology?
What is a Clovis point?
A Clovis point is a Paleo-American technology that is characterized by it's size, intricate and sophisticated flaking, and fluted base used for hafting. The Clovis point was the first technology to be widely used across the Americas, and the technique for making Clovis points remained the same across the continent. The time period at which Clovis points were used is highly debatable, and the estimates range from anywhere to 14,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. However, one thing is certain: as soon as North American mega-fauna vanished, so did the Clovis point.
Research/Resources/Journal
Conclusion
After all of my research, and talking a lot with Mr. Ramsey, I came across the conclusion that the Clovis Technology is uniform across the entire North American continent. This is a very impressive discovery for me because it shows that the early people had the communication skills to spread the knowledge about the Clovis technology over a huge geographical area. At first, archaeologists thought that the early people had just stumbled across old Clovis points and replicated what they saw, but that theory was shot down by modern flint-knappers. To this day, they are unable to replicate the exact appearance of the Clovis point, meaning that the technique used to make them had to be a learned one.