8 Ancient Archaeological Sites That Pre-Date the Clovis People 

For many years, archaeologists believed the first human culture in the Americas were the Clovis people, thought to have arrived in Alaska after crossing a land bridge—known as Beringia—from Siberia 13,500 years ago. The Clovis were named after the place in New Mexico where, in 1929, an amateur archaeologist named James Ridgely Whiteman first found their distinctive stone points. Then other prehistoric sites with similar stone and bone tools were discovered, suggesting that the Clovis people were the first humans to disperse across the Americas. The evidence gave rise to a consensus known as the Clovis First theory. 

More recently, discoveries from archaeological sites predating the Clovis culture have challenged the Clovis First theory and posed new questions about how, when, and by whom the Americas were first peopled. Here are eight of the most intriguing pieces of pre-Clovis evidence.

1. Stone Tools // Meadowcroft Rock Shelter, Pennsylvania
2. Shoreline Huts // Monte Verde Archaeological Site, Chile
3. Fossilized Poop // Paisley Caves, Oregon
4. Projectile Point in a Mastodon Bone // Manis Mastodon Site, Washington
5. Tool Workshop // Debra L. Friedkin Site at Buttermilk Creek, Texas
6. Stone Knife and Butchered Bones // Page-Ladson Site, Florida
7. Mammoth Bones with Cut Marks // Schaefer and Hebior Kill Sites, Wisconsin
8. Footprints // White Sands National Park, New Mexico

Stone Tools // Meadowcroft Rock Shelter, Pennsylvania

One of the first sites to undermine the Clovis-First theory was a rock shelter, known as Meadowcroft, found deep in the forest in western Pennsylvania. Archaeological remains suggested that the naturally occurring rock overhang had offered a place of refuge for thousands of years. In the mid-1970s, as archaeologist James Adovasio and his team worked through the many layers of sediment, they became more and more convinced they had found evidence of pre-Clovis settlement. 

They uncovered a stone point more than 12,000 years old and unlike anything made by the Clovis people, hinting that an earlier culture who had the ability to fashion tools had lived there. Below this find, in deeper layers of soil, researchers found the remains of a fire pit and a stone tool later dated to 16,000 years ago, making it the oldest tool yet discovered in North America. The evidence at Meadowcroft, showing human habitation as long as 19,000 years ago, seemed to repudiate the Clovis-First theory and sparked intense controversy. Other scientists sought further signs of pre-Clovis activity across the Americas.

Shoreline Huts // Monte Verde Archaeological Site, Chile

Another intriguing site was discovered in the 1970s in Monte Verde, Chile. The exceptionally well-preserved site held remains of wooden huts, rope, and stone tools dated to around 14,500 years ago. The early date and location in southern South America suggested that the settlers may have crossed Beringia and then traveled south by boat along the Pacific coast to avoid the huge inland glaciers that stood at that time. More recent excavations at the site have yielded butchered animal bones, a campfire, and further stone stools dating from 14,500 and 19,000 years ago, offering strong (if not irrefutable) evidence of pre-Clovis settlement in the Americas.

Fossilized Poop // Paisley Caves, Oregon

Fossilized human feces preserved in the arid environment of Paisley Caves in Oregon provide direct evidence for the oldest known human presence in North America. The coprolites, dating to around 14,000 years ago, give us insight into the diet of pre-Clovis people. They ate large megafauna such as mammoths, in common with other Ice Age populations, but the Paisley Caves poop also reveals diets rich in seeds, rodents, and insects, suggesting a more varied menu than had been previously supposed. Coprolites were not the only pre-Clovis artifacts found at Paisley Caves: A small section of bulrush fiber has also been uncovered, which researchers think may have been part of floor matting or a basket, lending yet another glimpse into the lives of these early cultures.

Projectile Point in a Mastodon Bone // Manis Mastodon Site, Washington

In the late 1970s, Washington State University archaeologist Carl Gustafson discovered a remarkable mastodon bone at the Manis fossil site in Sequim, Washington. The bone had been pierced by a human-made projectile point (also made from mastodon bone) that was still lodged inside. It indicated that humans had purposefully hunted megafauna, and initial radiocarbon dating put the bone’s age at 14,000 years old. But, because the Clovis-First theory was so entrenched, Gustafson’s colleagues were skeptical.

In 2011, researchers at Texas A&M University subjected the bone to a series of new tests to determine its true age. The results confirmed it was 13,800 years old—predating the first Clovis objects’ appearance by several centuries.

The fact that the point was made from mastodon bone showed that these early hunters used previous kills to make new tools—a finding that offers a clue in the mystery surrounding megafaunal extinctions. Mammoths, mastodons, and saber-toothed cats all went abruptly extinct in North America around 12,700 years ago, and researchers have speculated that the sophisticated hunting techniques of the Clovis people contributed to it. This older culture implies that hunting may have been going on a lot longer than we knew.

Tool Workshop // Debra L. Friedkin Site at Buttermilk Creek, Texas

The Debra L. Friedkin Site displays evidence of repeated human habitation, ranging from the most recent (about 1800 years ago) to the most ancient (up to 15,500 years ago). Archaeologists working at the site have found numerous distinctive Clovis points—the finely worked fluted stone and bone points used to hunt megafauna—as well as tools in the layers below. This pre-Clovis layer of sediment revealed a tool-making site with thousands of chips of worked stone, plus many finished objects such as scrapers and blades, indicating that people pre-dating the Clovis had the skills to fashion sophisticated implements.

Stone Knife and Butchered Bones // Page-Ladson Site, Florida

The Page-Ladson archaeological site, a deep sinkhole under 30 feet of water in the Aucilla River near Tallahassee, provided the first evidence of pre-Clovis peoples in Florida. Scientists in the 1980s found mastodon bones and tools, but it was unclear whether the items had been carried there by currents, leaving their provenance open to question. Then, in the mid-2010s, archaeologist Jessi Halligan undertook 126 dives into the pitch-black sinkhole to search for artifacts. She found mastodon bones showing human-made butchering cuts and a stone knife, both dating to 14,500 years ago and, more importantly, still resting in an undisturbed matrix in the sinkhole. They seemed to prove that pre-Clovis people had occupied the site.

Along with the megafaunal remains, possible canine bones brought up from the depths hint that dogs might have been companions to the early hunters, or at least competed with them for the meat. What is now a sinkhole may have been, in pre-Clovis times, a watering hole that would have attracted animals and made an excellent hunting ground for humans.

Mammoth Bones with Cut Marks // Schaefer and Hebior Kill Sites, Wisconsin

In the 1990s, archaeologists began excavating the Schaefer farm after a worker driving a bulldozer had run into a giant mammoth bone. A neighbor, John Hebior, mentioned that he had discovered similar bones on his property. Eventually, both farms yielded mammoth bones with v-shaped score marks, indicating the the properties may have been kill sites where humans had hunted and then processed the animals. Hebior’s bones comprised a skeleton that was 85 percent complete (and it’s now in the Milwaukee Public Museum). 

Archaeologists working on the remains dated them to around 14,500 years old, indicating pre-Clovis occupation of the sites. Researchers had long characterized the Clovis people as hunters of large game, so it was a surprise to discover a culture also hunting mammoths 1500 years earlier.

Footprints // White Sands National Park, New Mexico

A team of international researchers made headlines around the world in 2021 when they dated a series of footprints found preserved in an alkali flat in White Sands National Park as 21,000 to 23,000 years old. If their age was correct, the fossil footprints would refute the Clovis-First theory once and for all, so other archaeologists were wary.

One source of controversy was that the footprints’ age was determined by an analysis of seeds from aquatic plants found in the imprints. Because aquatic plants absorb dissolved carbon from bedrock rather than carbon from the air, this method can skew results too early. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey decided to reanalyze the date of the footprints, but this time, studied pollen from fir, pine, and spruce trees. Their findings, published in the journal Science in 2023, confirmed the dates suggested by the aquatic plants, providing convincing evidence that people were walking across the flats of Whites Sands National Park some 7000 years earlier than the first evidence of Clovis people. 

This find upended previous assumptions about the timeline of the arrival of the first people in the Americas—and suggests there may be many more discoveries to come.

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