Pre-Clovis Archaeological Sites
All of the sites in North and South America that date prior to 12,000 BC or earlier are called pre-Clovis, and most are problematic, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't think about them. Here is a collection of pre-clovis sites that are worth consideration.
Monte Verde is an archaeological site, located in southern Chile, on an inland estuary 55 kilometers west of the current Pacific coastline.
Cactus Hill is a buried multicomponent site on the Nottaway River of Virginia, with archaic, Clovis and, below the Clovis and separated by sterile sand, an apparent Pre-Clovis occupation.
Guitarrero Cave contains evidence of human occupations beginning at least 10,000 years ago, and perhaps as early as 12,500 years ago.
The Manis Mastodon site is a possible Clovis or preclovis mastodon butchery site located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state in the northwestern United States.
Meadowcroft Rockshelter was one of the first archaeological sites in the United States to contain evidence of pre-Clovis populations, and as such it has always been controversial.
Monte Verde is Southern Chile's addition to the problem of when was the earliest settlement of the American continent.
The site of Monte Verde, Chile, excavated by Tom Dillehay, brought the Clovis/Preclovis debate to the forefront by being the first widely accepted site predating 11,200 BP. This page contains links to articles on the continuing debate.
The archaeological site of Pedra Furada, Brazil, is a stratified rockshelter with a very early (and hence contested) date, a Paleoindian occupation, and some ancient cave art dated between 5000 and 11000 years BP
The Topper Site blew the lid off the Clovis First argument, although the site's dates are still controversial.
From Mark McConaughy, a page on supposedly preclovis Topper site, based on the paper given at the Southeastern Clovis Conference in 2005.
