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Introduction

During the last glacial stage (ca. 11,000 BCE), Clovis people introduced from Eurasia into the New World a culture reflective of their Paleolithic homelands. Archaeological evidence indicates that these cold-adapted groups employed “hard” technologies for making lithic and osseous utensils and “soft” technologies for textiles, basketry, and cordage (Bradley, Collins, & Hemmings, 2010). Animal remains and environmental information at some sites, combined with artifacts, suggest that Clovis people were organized into egalitarian nuclear families and bands; that they followed a nomadic lifestyle, which included hunting mammoth and other large game; and that they gathered wild foods seasonally (Boldurian & Cotter, 1999; Neusius & Gross, 2013). While it is likely that generally poor organic preservation at sites exaggerates the importance of lithic tools in Clovis culture, the finely flaked projectiles known as fluted points, grooved and edge-polished along the base, are found...

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Acknowledgments

Joanna L. Boldurian (photo editing and artifact casting)

Benjamin L. Carozza (full-body modeling)

Ellen E. Hoffman (technical editing)

Mason G. Pickel (all photographs)

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Correspondence to Anthony T. Boldurian .

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Boldurian, A.T. (2014). Clovis Blade Manufacture. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10117-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10117-1

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