Clovis Blade Technology: A Comparative Study of the Keven Davis Cache, Texas

Around 11,000 years ago, a Paleoindian culture known to us as "Clovis" occupied much of North America. Considered to be among the continent's earliest human inhabitants, the Clovis peoples were probably nomadic hunters and gatherers whose remaining traces include camp sites and caches of goods stored for utilitarian or ritual purposes. This book offers the first comprehensive study of a little-known aspect of Clovis culture—stone blade technology. Michael Collins introduces the topic with a close look at the nature of blades and the techniques of their manufacture, followed by a discussion of the full spectrum of Clovis lithic technology and how blade production relates to the production of other stone tools. He then provides a full report of the discovery and examination of fourteen blades found in 1988 in the Keven Davis Cache in Navarro County, Texas. Collins also presents a comparative study of known and presumed Clovis blades from many sites, discusses the Clovis peoples' caching practices, and considers what lithic technology and caching behavior can add to our knowledge of Clovis lifeways. These findings will be important reading for both specialists and amateurs who are piecing together the puzzle of the peopling of the Americas, since the manufacture of blades is a trait that Clovis peoples shared with the Upper Paleolithic peoples in Europe and northern Asia.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Preface Part One: Blade Technology and Its Place in North American Prehistory 1. Introduction 2. Blades and Blade Technology 3. A Review of Clovis Lithic Technology Part Two: The Keven Davis Site, a Clovis Blade Cache 4. The Keven Davis Cache Site and Its Setting 5. Field and Laboratory Investigations 6. The Collection 7. Microscopic Attributes of the Keven Davis Blades, by Marvin Kay Part Three: Comparisons and Considerations of Caching Behavior 8. Comparisons 9. Caching Behavior 10. Clovis Lithic Technology and Caching Behavior: Clues to Subsistence Strategies and Behavior Postscript Glossary References Cited Index

About the Author :
Michael B. Collins is a research associate at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

Review :
"In this book, Michael Collins . . . demonstrates why he is considered one of the leading researchers in the field of lithic analysis. The work offers a masterful review and synthesis of Clovis blade technology with lucid prose and lavish illustrations. . . . I recommend this book for all professional and avocational archaeologists interested in Paleoindian occupations of the New World." (Illinois Archaeology) "This book makes an important contribution to a newly revived debate on the significance of the Clovis phenomenon and the timing and migration routes of the peopling of the New World more generally." (SAS Bulletin)