From Faught, Michael K., and
Andrea K. L. Freeman. 1998.
Paleoindian Complexes of the Terminal Wisconsin and
Early Holocene. In Paleoindian and Archaic Sites
in Arizona, by J. B. Mabry, pp. 33-52. Arizona
State Historic Preservation Office, Phoenix.
Currently, the earliest
unequivocal sites of human occupation in North America
have fluted flaked stone projectile points, often in
association with the bones of extinct megafauna
(mammals larger than about 90 pounds). Dated to
between about 11,600 and 10,200 radiocarbon years b.p.
(uncalibrated) in North America, fluted point sites
are widely distributed throughout the New World, and
are associated with a wide variety of
paleoenvironments and diverse artifact assemblages.
There are several
varieties of fluted points in western North America,
where the distributions of the Clovis, Folsom, and
Dalton points overlap in the Southern Plains. Many of
the fluted points found in the Great Basin,
California, and northwestern Sonora have V-shaped,
concave bases and are generally smaller, narrower, and
less regular in shape than other types of fluted
points; these may represent another, currently unnamed
fluted point variety.