2nd Clovis mammoth kill site discovered in New Mexico

A second Clovis kill site has been discovered in the mountains of New Mexico.

It began with a man walking along a shallow wash near Abiquiu, New Mexico one afternoon and noticing some flakes of what looked like bone. He happened to be walking near the property line, maybe on his neighbor’s property. So he went to visit his neighbor, to tell him about the find.

His neighbor, Tim Rowe, happened to be a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Texas in Austin and knew something about old bones. Together they walked to the shallow wash to take a closer look. They found some very big ribs near the edge of the wash and teeth that clearly came from some elephant-like creature. But the only time elephant-like creatures ever roamed New Mexico was about 13,000 years ago when mammoths grazed the plains of eastern New Mexico. No one has ever found a mammoth in the high country.

Abiquiu is a place of sweeping vistas, dramatic mountains and the colors that dazzled artist Georgia O’Keefe. At 6,200 feet above sea level, it’s a wild place, with very little urban development - the kind of place where a very large creature could die and leave bones that were virtually undisturbed for thousands of years.

The bones in situ

The site

“The bones aren’t really articulated. They are there in a jumble, but it looks like pretty soon after the animal was de-fleshed that this little flood came along and put the bones into this channel,” said Huckell.

The researchers are seizing an unexpected opportunity to learn more about the Clovis people. Huckell says they are looking seriously at the question of how much of the mammoth meat the Clovis people actually used once they made a kill. A ton or so of mammoth is a huge amount for hunters to handle. He and his graduate students are comparing information they have from this site, with information from other mammoth kills to try to determine an answer.

He is also seeking a better answer to a question that has long been debated among anthropologists. Flakes of bone were found at the site, but it’s not clear whether that is part of a natural weathering process, whether another animal came along and gnawed or broke the bones or whether the flaking was something done by the hunters as they butchered the animal.

An afternoon walk and a mammoth find


Fascinating stuff indeed

Fantastic find for early man archaeology. I was fortunate enough to dig for Dr. George Agigino at Black water draw back in the day.

originally posted by: olaru12
Fantastic find for early man archaeology. I was fortunate enough to dig for Dr. George Agigino at Black water draw back in the day.

I would love to have had that experience.

I find Blackwater draw one of the most compelling clovis sites, along with topper they harbor physical evidence for the Younger Dryas Boundry impact event.

originally posted by: olaru12
Fantastic find for early man archaeology. I was fortunate enough to dig for Dr. George Agigino at Black water draw back in the day.

Olaru12,
Here is some new work concerning BWD

IMPLICATIONS FROM CHEMICAL, STRUCTURAL
AND MINERALOGICAL STUDIES OF MAGNETIC
MICROSPHERULES FROM AROUND THE LOWER
YOUNGER DRYAS BOUNDARY (NEW MEXICO, USA)

a reply to: punkinworks10
Please synopsize what about the linked report is interesting to a layman?

It is "Greek" to me

originally posted by: kkrattiger
a reply to: punkinworks10
Please synopsize what about the linked report is interesting to a layman?

It is "Greek" to me

Basically what originally looked like supporting evidence, the microspherules
Have just gone over to the other side, because the dates don't match the event