Clovis

Clovis.

1 City (1990 pop. 50,323), Fresno co., S central Calif., near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range; inc. 1912. It is a growing trade center in a farm and vineyard area; the population more than tripled from 1970 to 1990.

2 City (1990 pop. 30,954), seat of Curry co., E N.Mex., near the Texas line; inc. 1909. It is a railroad division point, the trade center of a cattle and irrigated farm area (with large stockyards), and the home of Cannon Air Force Base, a tactical air command facility. A state park is nearby. A huge county fair and a rodeo are annual events. The Clovis Complex, an archaeological find near the city, has provided the unearthing of ancient spearhead remnants.

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Clovis 

an archaeological culture of the Paleolithic period that existed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation everywhere in North America and in some parts of Central and South America. It is named after the Clovis campsite in New Mexico (USA), which was first investigated by the American archaeologist E. B. Howard in 1932. Radiocarbon dating places its existence between 12,000 and 9,000 years ago. The culture was characterized by stone flaked lanceolate spear tips, which were fluted on both surfaces and had a concave base, sometimes in the form of a fish tail. At typical sites—hunters’ camps—points and other tools (scrapers, choppers, gravers) have been found, as well as bones of mammoths.

REFERENCES

Wormington, H. M. Ancient Man in North America, 4th ed. Denver, 1957.
Mason, R. J. “The Paleo Indian Tradition in Eastern North America.” Current Anthropology, 1962, vol. 3, no. 3.
Krieger, A. D. “Early Man in the New World.” In Prehistoric Man in the New World. Chicago, 111. 1964.