#aFactADay2026
#1859: Clovis points were a great American invention, possibly the first. David Meltzer compares the Clovis point to the hula-hoop: not all that revolutionary an invention, but spread like wildfire, and then died out.
they're nowhere to be found in Northeast Asia (west of Beringia, the land bridge to the Americas) and everywhere to be found east of Beringia. using similar logic, you can kinda pin down where they must've been invented. about 60 points have indeed been found in Alaska, but they're usually much more similar in style to later points, indicating that Clovis points were invented in the Lower 48, and migrated back northwards through the ice.
logically, the oldest Clovis points would be found where they were invented (that would point (pun not intended) to either the Great Plains or the Southwestern US) but that's not really a good proof - the oldest points would also be the hardest to find.
someone called Ronald Mason (no-one you know) argued that "diversity reflects age", so the most diverse points found on the East Coast indicate that they were also the first. apparently this is the same logic that helped Joseph Greenberg piece together the well-agreed-upon language families of the world.