CAST #P-1
THE CLOVIS CULTURE

    The Clovis culture is presently the oldest recognized cultural tradition in North America. Sometime before 14,000 years ago these people entered the New World. At this time the ocean levels dropped as much as 360 feet exposing land between Siberia and Alaska called Beringia. Approximately 2.2 billion extra acres of land was exposed along the coast line of the United States. It's believed that many Clovis sites may lie undiscovered on the ocean floor. When Clovis people entered this country there were many different types of large and small animals alive then that are now extinct. The largest group of these animals are called the megafana. The early age of the Clovis culture has been proven over and over from many excavated sites across the United States. Camp sites are the most numerous. The best evidence has come from mammoth and mastodon kill sites and cache sites.

Clovis point cast from Fenn cache.
CAST #P-1
CLOVIS POINT
Fenn Cache
Forrest Fenn Collection

    This Clovis point cast was molded from #149 from the Fenn cache. It's considered one of the most skillfully made Clovis points ever discovered. This point effectively illustrates edge-to-edge or "outré passé" percussion flaking. Modern day flintknappers have found this technique very difficult to duplicate. This point was made of red phosphoria chert. The source of this material is located in the northern Bighorn Mountains in Big Horn County, Wyoming. This Clovis point measures 6 inches long.
    The location of the Fenn cache site is not known. The man who found it has since passed away and no additional information has surfaced except the fact that he collected in the general area of northeast Utah. He also sometimes crossed over into Idaho and Wyoming. The cache was mounted in one large frame and sold by his family at the first opportunity.
  The Fenn cache consists of 56 various Clovis type artifacts. The most exotic of these were three beautiful Clovis points made of quartz crystal. Eight of the artifacts were made of obsidian and the rest were made of red phosphoria chert. (Frison 1991)

Fenn cache artifacts.
FENN CACHE
FORREST FENN COLLECTION

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