Clovis Beveled Rod Manufacture: An Elephant Bone Experiment

Abstract

Cylindrical beveled bone rods, upon their initial discovery in 1936 at the Clovis type-site (Blackwater Locality No. 1, NM), were recognized as a component in the subsistence technology of Paleoindian groups. Additional specimens from across North America have since expanded our knowledge of Clovis lifeways. Repeatedly it has been suggested that long bone from either mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius, M. columbi, M. jeffersonii) or American mastodon ( Mammut americanum) was used in rod manufacture. This notion is logical, given that these artifacts have a dense, massive structure, and remains of both megamammals occur at Clovis sites. Proboscidean limb bone as material for making beveled rods, while likely, remains an untested assumption. This report demonstrates that cortical bone from Elephas maximus (Asian elephant) femur serves well in simulating manufacture of the uni-beveled rod (36-19-6) from Blackwater Draw.