Expert: John Shea - 3/3/2010

Question
Dear John,

In my Archaeological readings as a student, I am finding Clovis points to be scattered across much of the United States. The Clovis-First theory states that the Americas were populated by people who migrated across the Bering land bridge into Alaska and Canada and brought with them the Clovis technology. However, if I am correct, there have been no findings of Clovis points in Alaska. Why is this? If people crossed the land bridge, is it not logical that they  would use that technology to hunt and leave the remnants in this area?

If I have been mistaken in my readings and there have in fact been discoveries of Clovis points in Alaska, where specifically were these points found?

Thank you for your time,
Claire

Answer
Claire
This is a little outside my main area of expertise.  As far as I know, there are no known Clovis sites in Alaska.
I think the consensus among Americanists is that Clovis fluted points were invented and the idea for making them spread among human populations either
as they were dispersing into N. American south of the glaciers or that it was a fashion that spread among human populations already dispersed thinly in North America
There are Siberian Upper Paleolithic industries with bifacial lanceolate points, but no systematic fluting.  There was one find of something that looked like a
fluted point from Kamchatka peninsula, but I think it was eventually reinterpreted as use-related damage.
Sincerely
John Shea