NOVA | Making a Stone Age Weapon | PBS

Jeff Boudreau of the Massachusetts Archeological Society demonstrates how America's Stone Age explorers made the Clovis point, a weapon that could mean the difference between life and death.

This video podcast was produced and edited by Melissa Salpietra and David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

For more on the Clovis point and what it can tell us about the first Americans, visit http://www.pbs.org/nova/stoneage

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[craisin7]

Using modern tools is cheating ;-)

[azatrox]

Hey PBS, it's AWESOME to see you on YouTube. Keep the great vids coming, please!

[PrimitiveByNature]

@CelticSouthland With that mentality it's you that is the savage. They didn't spend every waking minute trying to figure out how to kill each other so there was no need for better technology.

[5tonyvvvv]

@CelticSouthland so what metal tools mean nothing..does not mean they were dumb..weather u believe in evolution or creation..all men are created equal!!

[CelticSouthland]

Savages never reached this point in Technology, only White Men did.

[MMMisterDNA]

@skok65

nobody around here understands my potato

[skok65]

@MMMisterDNA Mr. Kamikaze?

[runescapernoob]

Lol "this is a delicate procedure" WHACK!

[magick205]

@Shadow: you might want to chec out Lithic Casting Lab. They do a lot of reproduction casting for schools and private collectors. I've got Colvis points, Folsom, Delbert, Mesa Site, and Sheridan Cave as well as bone spear points and 2 myo Oldowan Flake tools. Lots of things to read on that site. Best to you !

[magick205]

@shadow: it's generally believed that the Clovis culture went exinct about 13 kya, being either absorbed or replaced by the paleoindians who would become known as the Folsom people. The fluting is very much a diagnostic of their artifacts. The Mississippian culture is much later, though still pre-Columbian. I'm not sure when the bow and arrow were developed here, so you would have to ask an expert. Sorry.

[shadowgirl0907]

Why I do believe you have me headed the right way..... I do have another question for you though.... I'm very aware of the the Cahokia culture (people of the sun and corn..lol) and people of the neolithic era... my question pertains to the "arrow heads"... did the Cahokia people use clovis point's first.. then later make arrow heads?..... or did the Cahokia make their very own tool..("arrow heads") prior to making their mounds?............. I'm actually rather fascinated by history. Thanks

[magick205]

@shadowgirl0907: Clovis is a type of paleoindian culture that was very widespread in North America to about 13000 years ago. The points, we believe, were used in the foreshafts of atlatl darts. Arrowheads are a much later development, as from Mississippian culture around Cahokia, IL. There's much more to it than that, but I hope I've got you going the right way.