Excavations at the 13,000-year-old Belson campsite in southwest Michigan have yielded hundreds of Clovis lithic implements. Evidence indicates that the Clovis population frequented this location annually, predominantly during the summer months, for a span of at least three, and potentially up to five, consecutive years. Analysis of these stone artifacts also reveals that the inhabitants’ sustenance comprised a diverse array of fauna, ranging from small game like rabbits to larger animals such as musk ox.
Clovis people likely returned to the Belson campsite in southwest Michigan for several years in a row. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.
The Belson archaeological locale is situated on an outwash plain that facilitated drainage from the Early Algonquin stage of the central Great Lakes, extending southwestward across Lower Michigan and into the Ohio River tributaries.
Within this site, researchers uncovered tools fashioned from a specific type of stone known as chert, originating from what is presently western Kentucky, a distance of approximately 644 kilometers (400 miles) from the Belson encampment.
These implements were subsequently re-sharpened at the site, leaving behind minute fragments that allowed for subsequent scholarly examination.
A portion of these chert fragments were identified as Paoli chert, a geological formation that originated in northeastern Kentucky.
“The process of identifying the material took me a full year, and the discovery was quite unexpected,” stated Thomas Talbot, an independent scholar and integral member of the investigative team.
“Subsequently, we located a fractured base, which we categorize as a diagnostic artifact.”
“This distinctive fractured base was constructed from that very Paoli chert material.”
“Upon reviewing the published research and scrutinizing the accompanying data and cartographical representations, certain discernible patterns begin to emerge, which are quite compelling.”
“It appears that the tools manufactured in the geographical area now known as Kentucky were engaged in trade with populations residing in central Indiana, who then transported them to the Belson site.”
“This observation suggests that the individuals who established residency at the Belson site likely migrated there during the warmer summer months, spending their winters in central Indiana,” posited Brendan Nash, a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan.
“In turn, it is probable that they acquired these tools through trade with inhabitants of western Kentucky, who themselves journeyed from central Indiana to Kentucky along established annual routes.”
“Through this network of exchange and movement, individuals effectively formed ‘links in a chain,’ establishing annual migratory pathways that likely interconnected the entire continent, spanning from Michigan to Mexico.”
“This extensive connectivity is a probable explanation for the remarkable uniformity of technology observed across most of North America during the Clovis period.”
The research team also subjected three of the numerous stone tools unearthed to analysis for residual protein traces.
Their findings indicated the presence of musk ox, caribou or deer, hare, and peccary, an extinct relative of the pig from the Pleistocene epoch. Notably, the protein signatures for hare and peccary were detected on the same Clovis projectile point.
“Collectively, the ancient protein data strongly suggest that these populations maintained a broad-spectrum diet, consuming a wide variety of animal species,” Nash elaborated.
“Our discoveries stand in contrast to the prevailing notion that Clovis peoples were exclusively big-game hunters, predominantly subsisting on mammoths and mastodons.”
“It is plausible that the Clovis population also incorporated plant matter into their diets; however, plant material is not detectable through protein analysis, and unlike faunal remains, such botanical evidence rarely endures for 13,000 years.”
“This archaeological site offers invaluable insights into a forgotten mode of existence.”
“By tracing the geological origins of the lithic materials and examining the stylistic attributes of the tools, we are effectively charting the movements and lifestyles of a group of people as they navigated and inhabited the Pleistocene landscapes of the American Midwest.”
The research endeavor was formally documented and disseminated in the academic journal PLoS ONE.
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B. Nash et al. 2024. Clovis organizational dynamics at a Late Glacial campsite in the central Great Lakes: Belson site excavations 2020-2021. PLoS ONE 19 (5): e0302255; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302255
