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Research
Training Program
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Highlights
from 2006
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Smithsonian
Institution
National Museum of Natural History
Research
Training Program
Events
Photo Gallery
Stone
Tools Tour
Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Some
of the Museum's collection of stone tools
accumulated over the years. Clovis points
were used on spears to throw at the large
prey, especially mammoths, that Native
Americans hunted. The first Clovis point,
found in Clovis, New Mexico, was discovered
in 1932.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Dennis
displays a sampling of Clovis points.
What made Clovis points unique was their
structure. They were bifaced and fluted
on both sides, allowing them to be attached
to spears.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Many
Clovis points were stored in caches around
the country, such as these from Simon
Cache in Idaho. Many of the cashes holding
points were covered with a distinctive
red ochre powder.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Sylvia
Moses, Caleb McMahan, Erin Saupe and Bryan
Coeckrell watch and listen as Dennis dsecribes
the collection..
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
A
student holds a pair of Clovis points.
Clovis points were probably reused frequently
because of their importance and difficulty
to construct, and so have been found in
a variety of sizes and shapes.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Clovis
points were constructed from a wide range
of materials, including quartz crystal.
Native peoples often traveled vast distances
to find the materials needed to create
these points.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Leslie
Hale, Julia Brown and Lynn Copes
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
The
collections are stored in standard wooden
museum cabinets but each tray is fitted
with special foam to hold securly each
artifact.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Many
of the collection's pieces are casts.
The cast can be just as valuable as the
original, and often when positioned side-by-side
are difficult to tell apart.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Madison
Barkley
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Dennis
demonstrates how Clovis points were used
and attached to spears. Hunting by Clovis
peoples may have contributed to the extinction
of several species of large North American
wildlife, such as the wooly mammoth.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
The
grooves that Clovis points had on their
sides could have allowed for easy attachment
to atlatl spearthrowers.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
Dennis
believes that the points' beautiful appearance
comes from the respect that the ancient
cultures had for the prey animals that
they hunted.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
One
of Dennis's personal favorites is a Clovis
point, found in Idaho. For years Clovis
points were thought to be "Indian
knives" until it was discovered that
the points were thousands of years old,
not merely decades old.
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
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Stone
Tools Tour
Friday,
2 June 2006
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