About 500 Ice Age spear points reveal Clovis hunters resharpened theirs more than Cumberland people

Representative Image (AI-generated) Nearly 13,000 years ago, people moving through the Tennessee River Valley faced a problem that had little to do with simply finding food. They also had to learn which resources could be trusted and where to find the stone needed to make and maintain their hunting tools. A new study in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory has found that this learning process may be visible in nearly 500 ancient projectile points. Researchers found that early Clovis groups tended to resharpen their points more extensively, while later Cumberland groups were more willing to discard points that still had usable material. The pattern suggests that familiarity with the landscape changed how people managed valuable tools and the risks associated with replacing them.Nearly 500 spear points reveal a difference in behaviourThe study, “Foraging Theory and the Colonisation of Unfamiliar Landscapes: Assessing Late Pleistocene Projectile Point Reduction Strategies,” was published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. It was authored by Jesse W. Tune of the University of Mississippi and D. Shane Miller of the University of Alabama. The researchers exami...