) became extinct around 12,000–9,000 years ago due to human-related activities, climate change, or a combination of both. See
Quaternary extinction event and
Holocene extinction. The Palaeoindian period is generally considered to end around 9000 to 8000 years
Before Present (abbreviated BP, a calendar system that treats the year 1950 AD/CE as year zero). Some authors have suggested that archaeological sites in the Americas prior to 13,500-13,000 years BP should be assigned to the
Upper Paleolithic, which is then followed by the Paleoindian period. Sites in Alaska (eastern Beringia) exhibit some of the earliest evidence of Paleo-Indians, The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas. These peoples were spread over a wide geographical area; thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all the individual groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making
knapping styles and progress identifiable. This early Paleo-Indian period's
lithic reduction tool adaptations have been found across the Americas, utilized by highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 60 members of an extended family. Food would have been plentiful during the few warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds and aquatic mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in the forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter, coastal fishing groups moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs. Late ice-age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change. Groups moved and sought new supplies as preferred resources were depleted. During much of the early and middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct
megafauna. The
Clovis culture, appearing around 11,500 BCE ( BP) in North America, is one of the most notable Paleo-Indian archaeological cultures. It has been disputed whether the Clovis culture were specialist
big-game hunters or employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and a variety of flora. Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient
fluted-style spear points, as well as
microblades used for butchering and hide processing. Projectile points and
hammerstones made from many sources are found traded or moved to new locations. Stone tools were traded and/or left behind from
North Dakota and
Northwest Territories, to
Montana and
Wyoming. The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation around 17,500–14,500 years ago. As the
Quaternary extinction event was happening, the late Paleo-Indians would have relied more on other means of subsistence. From BCE ( BP), the broad-spectrum big game hunters of the
Great Plains began to focus on a single animal species: the
bison (an early cousin of the
American bison). The earliest known of these bison-oriented hunting traditions is the
Folsom tradition. Folsom peoples traveled in small family groups for most of the year, returning yearly to the same springs and other favored locations on higher ground. There they would camp for a few days, perhaps erecting a temporary shelter, making and/or repairing some stone tools, or processing some meat, then moving on.
Classification , from the Paleo-Indian periods in southeastern North America Paleo-Indians are generally classified by lithic reduction or
lithic core "styles" and by regional adaptations.
Lithic technology fluted spear points, like other spear points, are collectively called
projectile points. The projectiles are constructed from chipped stones that have a long groove called a "flute". The spear points would typically be made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point. The point was then tied onto a spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed with the ice age ending around 17–13
Ka BP on short, and around 25–27 Ka BP on the long, many animals migrated overland to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals, such as bison, mammoth and mastodon, thus gained the name
big-game hunters. Pacific coastal groups of the period would have relied on fishing as the prime source of sustenance. Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that the earliest human settlements in North America were thousands of years before the appearance of the current Paleo-Indian time frame (before the late glacial maximum 20,000-plus years ago). Evidence indicates that people were living as far east as Beringia before 30,000 BCE (32,000 BP). Until recently, it was generally believed that the first Paleo-Indian people to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the city of
Clovis, New Mexico, where in 1936 unique
Clovis points were found in situ at the site of
Blackwater Draw, where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals. Recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout the Americas suggest that Clovis (thus the "Paleo-Indians") time range should be re-examined. In particular, sites such as
Cooper's Ferry in Idaho,
Cactus Hill in
Virginia,
Meadowcroft Rockshelter in
Pennsylvania,
Bear Spirit Mountain in
West Virginia,
Catamarca and
Salta in
Argentina,
Pilauco and
Monte Verde in
Chile,
Topper in
South Carolina, and
Quintana Roo in
Mexico have generated early dates for wide-ranging Paleo-Indian occupation. Some sites significantly predate the migration time frame of ice-free corridors, thus suggesting that there were additional coastal migration routes available, traversed either on foot and/or in boats. Geological evidence suggests the Pacific coastal route was open for overland travel before 23,000 years ago and after 16,000 years ago.
South America In South America, the site of
Monte Verde indicates that its population was probably territorial and resided in their river basin for most of the year. Some other South American groups, on the other hand, were highly mobile and hunted big-game animals such as
gomphotheres and
giant sloths. They used classic bifacial projectile point technology, such as
Fishtail points. The primary examples are populations associated with El Jobo points (
Venezuela), fish-tail or Magallanes points (various parts of the continent, but mainly the southern half), and
Paijan points (
Peru and
Ecuador) at sites in grasslands, savanna plains, and patchy forests. The dating for these sites ranges from BP (for
Taima-Taima in Venezuela) to BP. The bi-pointed El Jobo projectile points were mostly distributed in north-western Venezuela; from the
Gulf of Venezuela to the high mountains and valleys. The population using them were hunter-gatherers that seemed to remain within a certain circumscribed territory. El Jobo points were probably the earliest, going back to BP and they were used for hunting large mammals. In contrast, the fish-tail points, dating to c. 11,000 B.P. in
Patagonia, had a much wider geographical distribution, but mostly in the central and southern part of the continent. == Archaeogenetics ==