We hear often about the Clovis people as if they were the mystics who put the giant heads, actually giant statues, on Easter Island but no-one knows who they were or why they did it. In the actual case of the Clovis people we know they explored large parts of America and then they disappeared about twelve or thirteen thousand years ago. Some but not all scientists theorize they were wiped out by a meteorite strike which was major to North America. Others theorize they were wiped out by climate change but that doesn't mesh so well with the observed facts as the idea of a meteorite.
The Clovis arrow point is the thing differentiating these people from others and there's some mystical reverence for that as well. The researchers present the idea the Clovis point may have even been integral in exploring the Americas but that ignores how human explorers had already walked over just about everywhere else in the world and North America was the last place left. With or without the Clovis point, we would have explored and we know that since we had previously done it anyway.
A collection of Clovis point replicas and casts in the archaeology lab at Kent State University
Credit: Kent State University
Science Daily: Archaeologist explains innovation of 'fluting' ancient stone weaponry
There's no way to know how much the Clovis point affected exploration of the Americas but observations about the engineering behind the point are interesting.
Archaeologists have debated for years as to why the Clovis added this flute feature to their points. Basically, it is a thin groove chipped off at the base on both sides, perhaps first made by accident, which logically makes it very thin and brittle. However, after several types of testing, the researchers have reported that this thinning of the base can make it better able to withstand and absorb the shock of colliding with a hard object, such as the bone of a mastodon or bison.
This fluted point turned out to be an invention that allowed these colonizers to travel great distances with some confidence that their weaponry would hold up at least long enough until they could find the next rock quarry to make new points.
- SD
They really did engineer a better arrow point but the extension in the second paragraph is something the Rockhouse regards as whimsical. Whatever effect that had on any kind of confidence is impossible to know and it seems all the more thin that it had anything to do with confidence after humans had explored so much of the world already.
Ed: this was still Stone Age so what do you even mean people had explored most of the world?
Well, let's see ... humans were all over Africa, had spread through much of Europe, and explored Asia to the point of finding Korea and walking across to North America. It was the last place left.
The technology behind the Clovis point is all the more remarkable from such an ancient tribe of people.
In their article, the researchers compared standardized computer models of fluted and unfluted points, as well as experimental "real-world" test specimens, and found that the fluted-point base does in fact act as a "shock absorber," increasing point robustness and ability to withstand physical stress via stress redistribution and damage relocation. In other words, upon impact, the brittle base of the spearhead crumples and absorbs some energy, which prevents fatal breaks elsewhere on the point so it could be reused.
"It's amazing to think that people 12,000 years ago were flaking shock absorbers and engineering stone weapons in a way that it took 21st century modern engineering to figure out," Eren said.
- SD
For me, that was kind of patronizing since those ancient people had the same intelligence as we; they just didn't have the same width of knowledge. That they figured out complicated things does not surprise me but it seems to surprise the hell out of researchers sometimes.
The Clovis arrow point is the thing differentiating these people from others and there's some mystical reverence for that as well. The researchers present the idea the Clovis point may have even been integral in exploring the Americas but that ignores how human explorers had already walked over just about everywhere else in the world and North America was the last place left. With or without the Clovis point, we would have explored and we know that since we had previously done it anyway.
A collection of Clovis point replicas and casts in the archaeology lab at Kent State University
Credit: Kent State University
Science Daily: Archaeologist explains innovation of 'fluting' ancient stone weaponry
There's no way to know how much the Clovis point affected exploration of the Americas but observations about the engineering behind the point are interesting.
Archaeologists have debated for years as to why the Clovis added this flute feature to their points. Basically, it is a thin groove chipped off at the base on both sides, perhaps first made by accident, which logically makes it very thin and brittle. However, after several types of testing, the researchers have reported that this thinning of the base can make it better able to withstand and absorb the shock of colliding with a hard object, such as the bone of a mastodon or bison.
This fluted point turned out to be an invention that allowed these colonizers to travel great distances with some confidence that their weaponry would hold up at least long enough until they could find the next rock quarry to make new points.
- SD
They really did engineer a better arrow point but the extension in the second paragraph is something the Rockhouse regards as whimsical. Whatever effect that had on any kind of confidence is impossible to know and it seems all the more thin that it had anything to do with confidence after humans had explored so much of the world already.
Ed: this was still Stone Age so what do you even mean people had explored most of the world?
Well, let's see ... humans were all over Africa, had spread through much of Europe, and explored Asia to the point of finding Korea and walking across to North America. It was the last place left.
The technology behind the Clovis point is all the more remarkable from such an ancient tribe of people.
In their article, the researchers compared standardized computer models of fluted and unfluted points, as well as experimental "real-world" test specimens, and found that the fluted-point base does in fact act as a "shock absorber," increasing point robustness and ability to withstand physical stress via stress redistribution and damage relocation. In other words, upon impact, the brittle base of the spearhead crumples and absorbs some energy, which prevents fatal breaks elsewhere on the point so it could be reused.
"It's amazing to think that people 12,000 years ago were flaking shock absorbers and engineering stone weapons in a way that it took 21st century modern engineering to figure out," Eren said.
- SD
For me, that was kind of patronizing since those ancient people had the same intelligence as we; they just didn't have the same width of knowledge. That they figured out complicated things does not surprise me but it seems to surprise the hell out of researchers sometimes.
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