A study published in the current issue of Science Advances shows that the ancestors of Native peoples were already in the Americas long before previously thought.
Researchers found a 15,000 year-old stemmed point -- a type of human-made tool -- at the
Debra L. Friedkin site outside of Austin, Texas. The discovery, which is the first of its kind, means Native ancestors were living here at least 2,000 years prior to the so-called
Clovis sites in neighboring New Mexico.
"The dream has always been to find diagnostic artifacts – such as projectile points – that can be recognized as older than Clovis and this is what we have at the Friedkin site,” Michael Waters, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M, said in a
press release announcing the find.
Read More on the Story
Texas: Ancient Weapons Pre-Dating Clovis People Discovered at Buttermilk Creek
(Newsweek October 24, 2018)
Continent’s oldest spear points provide new clues about the first Americans
(The Washington Post October 24, 2018)
Discovery of Ancient Spearpoints in Texas Has Some Archaeologists Questioning the History of Early Americas
(Gizmodo October 24, 2018)
Discovery of ancient spear points could challenge accepted theories
(KWTX October 25, 2018)
Get the Study
Pre-Clovis projectile points at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas—Implications for the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas
(Science Advances 2018; 4 (10): eaat4505 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat4505)
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