Clovis represents the earliest evidence of human culture in Saskatchewan. Some people believe that there were people here even earlier although no good evidence has been uncovered. The origin of the Clovis culture is still a mystery. Many believe that the Clovis people entered North America from Siberia. An area called beringia formed a land bridge between Asia and North America during the last ice age.
| Dates: | 11,300 to 10,500 yr BP. |
| Lithics: | Stone tools were made from local lithic sources, usually quartzites and silicified siltstones. Projectile points were fluted along their midline of the point. |
| Technology: | Clovis projectile points were large, lanceolate spear points hafted onto carved bones and ivory shafts. Their subsistence pattern consisted of hunting all kinds of game including megafauna. |
| Distribution: | Southern Saskatchewan. |
| Sites: | There are only 6 Clovis sites in Saskatchewan and these are surface finds. There have been no excavated Clovis sites in the province. Surface stone tool finds cannot be dated, so the dates above have been generalized from excavated Clovis sites elsewhere in North America. |
| Environment: | Ice sheets still covered parts of the northern province. The dry, almost desert conditions were rapidly replaced with moist conditions as the ice melted. As the glaciers began to recede in the southern part of the province shrubs and herbs quickly covered the land but were gradually replaced by forest. The melting of the glaciers slowed during a cooler and wetter period known as the Younger Dryas Event. This cooling period coincided with the advancement of many of the large glaciers. Glacial Lake Agassiz (pronounced a-ga-zee) began to form as all the water from the melting ice was dammed by the remaining glaciers. It lasted from about 12,000 to 8500 yr BP. By the end of the Clovis period most of the megafauna such as the wooly mammoth were extinct. |
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