Clovis Point found at Grand Canyon N.P.

In late January 2005, park visitors Chuck LaRue, Chaz LaRue, and Mark Stevenson were bird watching along Grand Canyon's South Rim when Chuck noticed an unusual lithic artifact. LaRue, a biologist who spends part of his free time flintknapping, recognized it as a fluted Paleo-Indian projectile point fragment. He documented its location and notified GRCA archeologists.

GRCA archeologists recovered the point fragment near Desert View. Phil R Geib of NAU/NNAD has subsequently identified it as a fragment of a Clovis point base made of chert from the Washington Pass area of the Chuska Mountains in eastern Arizona. This find suggests the human history of Grand Canyon extends as far as 9,000 to 10,000 B.C. and provides additional evidence of Paleo-Indian use of Grand Canyon.

Prior to this, a Folsom point fragment dating between 8,000 and 9,000 B.C. was the oldest artifact found in the park. Interestingly, both the Clovis and the Folsom point fragments were found near a cross-canyon route in the eastern Grand Canyon. We know that the route was used prehistorically by the Ancestral Puebloans and these finds suggest earlier inhabitants may have used it as well. GRCA archeologists continue to investigate whether this point is an isolated artifact or if it is part of a larger Paleo-Indian site.

NPS Photo by Mike Quinn

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