My son found a Clovis today!

[Kantuckkeean]

Howdy Y'all,

So my two sons and I decided to go hunting in the field where I found that little red one yesterday. I looked for the possible stem that sandchip mentioned but couldn’t find anything. We didn’t find anything worthwhile but it was fun walking around. We hiked across the field and over a bridge to get to the other side of the creek. We walked some hills and gullies but didn’t find anything. My younger son wanted to go home but I convinced them to check one more spot before heading back to the house. My older son spotted a point sticking out of the dirt. He knows to leave them until I get a photo and after I did, I told him to pull it straight out. When he did, I saw the base and immediately thought “Clovis!” I couldn’t believe it because it’s been a no-till field for at least 12 years. It measures 1 7/16”long by ¾” wide at the base. I just ran it under the faucet and gently rubbed some of the dirt off… didn’t even give it the vigorous toothbrush treatment that most of our artifacts get. It’s semi-translucent but the photos don’t quite get it. He was thrilled, so we went back to look around a bit more but didn’t find anything but flakes. Decided to go mushroom hunting but there were none to be found. It was a beautiful day to be out walking around.




Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

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[arrow86]

What a killer find ! How old is your son ? Does he realize the rarity of finding a Clovis ? That’s something very high on my bucket list I hope to cross off one day congrats to your son

 

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[Relicgrubber]

Sweet! I really like the look of the material also. Congrats to you son...

 

[GaRebel1861]

I've been hunting artifacts for 43 years and have only found two back halves of the elusive Clovis. A big congratulations to your son!

 

[Tdog]

Congrats to you son. Nice find.

 

[Kantuckkeean]

Great find. Clovis...no doubt. Material? Could have come from a LONG way away. Looks a bit like a type of glacial till material I've found. Also, it looks like they fluted it at least twice on each side. Look up "Enterline Fluting Technique". Gary

Thank you Gary. I haven't found anything else made from this type of flint. It's definitely a better quality material than a lot of the stuff that I've found. I'll look into Enterline Fluting and compare...

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[Kantuckkeean]

What a killer find ! How old is your son ? Does he realize the rarity of finding a Clovis ? That’s something very high on my bucket list I hope to cross off one day congrats to your son

He's 9 and realizes that it's rare, but I'm not sure that he fully appreciates it like the folks on this forum. He's been reading all of the replies and he is thrilled about it though! He just turned 9 and my other son is 7. They've both found a few artifacts. My younger son isn't into it as much as my older son though. My 9 yo is bugging me to go out right now... he wants to find another one! He's hooked!

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[uniface]

Some pictures of it turned sideways (or whatever) to better show the flaking on the lower sides (where it was hafted) would be of distinct interest to me, & probably to a few others. In your pictures, it looks like three of the four hafting edges were tranchet flaked rather than shaped from the sides.

 

[Kantuckkeean]

I looked into Enterline Fluting and I'd say that Gary is correct. It's more apparent on one side. Thank you Gary. I'll look into it some more...

uniface,

I'm not a knapper, so that's the first I've heard of tranchet flaking. One side is much more ground than the other, so better photos probably wouldn't help the one side. Anyways, here are some additional photos that I took with my iPhone in natural light... base and tip. If these aren't good enough, let me know and I'll try to get my wife to take some with her camera and macro lens.







Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[Thirdeyeartifactguy]

Thats a memory that will last a lifetime! Keep it in the family.

 

[quito]

Very nice!!! Looks widest at the base.

Redstone Clovis maybe?

 

[joshuaream]

Kantuck, can you post a picture looking down the barrel to see the flutes? Just curious the thinness between the flutes.

 

[Twitch]

Winner, winner

 

[Twistedsifter]

you did it!!! congratulations! case piece, and a lifetime memory for you and the kids

 

[Kantuckkeean]

Kantuck, can you post a picture looking down the barrel to see the flutes? Just curious the thinness between the flutes.

I measured it with a carbon fiber digital caliper just now. In the center to where the one flute obviously ends toward the tip, it was 0.09" or ~2.3mm where the flute ends. Hard to get a great shot with just an iPhone but here it is. If you zoom in, you can see that the upper flute is slightly concave, so I measured it in the middle, where it was thinnest.



Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[joshuaream]

That is cool and amazingly thin. I was wondering if was a rebased tip from a much large Clovis point, but I can't see the usual indicators.

Spectacular point.

 

[Kantuckkeean]

That is cool and amazingly thin. I was wondering if was a rebased tip from a much large Clovis point, but I can't see the usual indicators.

Spectacular point.

I had that same thought, because of how it is widest at the base.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[dognose]

Very nice form.

it looks like Sonora flint to me.

 

[uniface]

Thank you for the hafting area sides pics.

If anybody cares, it looks like black chalcedony to me. & like it knapped like it too.

 

[sandchip]

...You can really spend a long time looking for one of those without finding one...

I've been hunting artifacts for 43 years and have only found two back halves of the elusive Clovis...

Never found even a verifiable piece of one in 33 official years of looking.

Great find in great material. I do hope that your son will let you secure it for him until he's grown. At that age, with other kids over and the urge to show what he found, I've heard of great stuff disappearing unnoticed until it's too late. Not to cast a pall over things here, but if something did happen on down the line, I'd regret having not said it.

 

[Kantuckkeean]

Never found even a verifiable piece of one in 33 official years of looking.

Great find in great material. I do hope that your son will let you secure it for him until he's grown. At that age, with other kids over and the urge to show what he found, I've heard of great stuff disappearing unnoticed until it's too late. Not to cast a pall over things here, but if something did happen on down the line, I'd regret having not said it.

Thanks everyone.

I never figured that we'd find one. I'm still stunned, especially considering that it was a no-till field. My expectations were pretty low going in, since we could only hunt the gullies and slopes where some of the dirt was washing.

That's good advice sandchip. Thanks. I was already on it. Both of my boys have found some artifacts and after we've examined them, I tuck them away for safe keeping.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck