Blackwater Draw - Archeology - Glen Evans Exhibit

At this location, Clovis artifacts (man-made items) are seen to be distinct
from and older than Folsom artifacts.

The section exposed in the Blackwater Draw

LEVEL

The hammer is hanging at the level D of Folsom man! The bones and artifacts are still in position. This is the record before excavation.

Close up of the entire vertical section exposed in the Draw

Each bone is wrapped in plaster before it is moved from the site

Bone in plaster with projectile point

On this level, stone spear points (projectile points) lay next to very large animal bones. These people used the spear points to kill mammoths and Bison antiquus. Because archaeologists knew that these very large animals (or megafauna) were extinct by the end of the Pleistocene era, they could infer that people hunted at Blackwater Draw about 13,000 years ago.

Close observation of the different rock and sediment layers (the stratigraphy) allowed Glen to produce sections such as the one below

This diagram illustrates how one site can be correlated with another, if careful geological records of the stratigraphy are made. Here Glen is connecting a site in Lubbock with one in Clovis, New Mexico. By following this procedure for other sites in the area, Glen was able to map the activity of early man in this part of Texas.