CAST #P-30

CLOVIS POINT
LANGE-FERGUSON SITE
PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA
12,000 YEARS AGO
Cast of a Clovis point from the Lange Ferguson site.
CAST #P-30
CLOVIS POINT
LANGE-FERGUSON SITE
PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA

   This is a cast of the larger of two complete Clovis points that were found with the bones of one adult and one juvenile mammoth. It was found during the excavation of the Lange-Ferguson mammoth kill site on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota by L. Adrien Hannus, PhD. Dr. Hannus is the head of the Archaeological Laboratory, Center for Western Studies, Augustana College.
   This small spear point was probably resharpened at least one or more times. It's made of a black opaque chert and measures 2 1/8 (54 mm) inches long.

MAMMOTH KILL AND BUTCHERING SITE LANGE
LANGE-FERGUSON SITE
Lange Ferguson site excavation. Lange Ferguson site excavation.
LANGE - FERGUSON MAMMOTH KILL SITE EXCAVATION
PICTURE CREDIT--ARCHEOLOGY LABORATORY, CENTER FOR WESTERN STUDIES, AUGUSTANA COLLEGE, DR. ADRIEN HANNUS
FOR FURTHER PICTURES AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE LANGE-FERGUSON SITE

   The Lange - Ferguson mammoth kill butchering site is one of only a handful of mammoth kill sites in North America. This site is located in the White River Badlands on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Clovis hunters apparently killed two mammoths, one adult and one juvenile, sometime before 12,000 years ago in what at the time was a marsh or bog. (Hannus 1990: 52)
   Stone artifacts found with the bones include two complete fluted points, one broken base of a fluted point and one small flake. Two bifacially flaked bone cleavers made from the mammoth scapula and showing use wear were also found. (Hannus 1990: 61)
   Mammoth kill sites in the New World are rare. The remains of approximately 38 mammoths killed or scavenged by Clovis hunters are all that were recorded to 1978. (Sanders 1978) This is less than would be found on one good site in the Ukraine. In Central Europe, the Central Russian Plain and the Ukraine archaeological research documents 50,000 years of considerable reliance on mammoths. These people used the bones to build shelters, as a fuel source, workbenches, tools and engraved or sculpted art. (Hannus 1990: 49)

"REFERENCES"

1989, "Bone Modification" Peopling of the Americas Publications; "Flaked Mammoth Bone from the Lange/Ferguson Site White River Badlands Area, South Dakota, L. Adrien Hannus, pp 395-412.
1990,  "Megafauna & Man", The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc., Vol. 1; "The Lange-Ferguson Site: A Case for Mammoth Bone-Butchering Tools" L. Adrien Hannus, pp 86-99.

HOME    ORDERING