Examining context and association at the Clovis type-site: Interpreting the 1963–1964 spring conduit excavations, Roosevelt County, New Mexico

Abstract

Excavations carried out by F. Earl Green and El Llano Archaeological Society at Blackwater Locality No. 1, Roosevelt County, New Mexico provided the opportunity to investigate spatial patterning and artifact diversity between Clovis and Folsom assemblages identified in the north bank area of the Clovis type-site. Four assemblages, containing Clovis and Folsom diagnostic artifacts, were recovered during the 1963 and 1964 excavations. By viewing artifacts as clasts, and correlating particle size analyses with spatial patterning, the depositional environments associated within the four assemblages were evaluated. Building upon these findings, assemblage diversity was examined revealing both variability and continuity in the level of Clovis and Folsom technological organization. These findings augment existing models of Clovis and Folsom technology on a local basis and highlight variability in the regional transition from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene period at Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1.