Date, 30 minutes, color. KELO TV, Sioux Falls, SD.
Summary
Excavations at the Lange-Ferguson site (39SH33) on White River in the South Dakota badlands yielded the butchered remains of two mammoths. Projectile points found near the bones indicate that Clovis people were responsible for the activities at the site. Radiocarbon dates are consistent with Clovis times, suggesting the event took place about 11,000 BP (ca. 13,000 calendar years ago).
Questions
1. Today the South Dakota Badlands are semi-arid. How did the environment during Clovis times differ, and what kinds of evidence show this?
2. At Lange-Ferguson, archaeologists did not find chopping and cutting tools made from stone. What did the Clovis hunters use to butcher the mammoth, and what is the evidence?
3. Why are Clovis sites difficult to find?
4. What is fluting, and how and why was this technique used to manufacture Clovis points?
For additional information, including Lange-Ferguson publications, see the Lange-Ferguson Site web pages from Augustana College.
TWIST, University Libraries, The University of Iowa.
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URL: http://twist.lib.uiowa.edu/plains/lange.html
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