The Clovis culture (named after distinctive fluted stone spear points first found near Clovis, New Mexico) is the earliest widely recognized and widespread archaeological culture in North America. It dates to roughly 13,050- 12,750 calibrated years before present (about 13,000- 12,750 years ago).

For much of the 20th century, the “Clovis First” model held that these people were the first humans to enter the Americas south of the ice sheets, arriving via the Bering land bridge and an ice- free corridor.

That model has been largely abandoned. Multiple lines of evidence show people were already present earlier:

Well- accepted pre- Clovis evidence

• Monte Verde II (Chile): ~14,500 years ago: house structures, tools and other remains. A key site that helped overturn Clovis First.⁠
• Paisley Caves (Oregon): human coprolites (fossilized feces) with DNA dating to ~14,200- 14,500 years ago, plus Western Stemmed Tradition tools that appear roughly contemporaneous with or older than Clovis.⁠
• Cooper’s Ferry (Idaho): stone tools and other artifacts dated to ~15,000- 16,000 years ago (Western Stemmed Tradition).⁠
• Page- Ladson (Florida): tools associated with mastodon remains ~14,550 years ago.⁠
• Debra L. Friedkin / Gault (Texas, Buttermilk Creek Complex): artifacts in layers dating ~15,500- 13,500 years ago.⁠

These sites indicate people were living as generalized hunter-gatherers and fishers (not just specialized big- game hunters like classic Clovis) and had already reached both North and South America by at least ~14,500- 16,000 years ago.

Older and more debated claims

Some sites push the date further back (White Sands footprints in New Mexico ~21,000- 23,000 years ago; Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico possibly ~30,000 and more years; a few others even older).

These remain more controversial, with ongoing debates about dating, context, or whether the materials are truly human made.

Genetic evidence generally points to ancestral populations related to modern Native Americans entering or expanding in the Americas sometime after the Last Glacial Maximum peak, with major diversification around or after ~15,000- 20,000 years ago. Extremely early claims (e.g., >40,000 or 130,000 years) are not widely accepted.

In short: Clovis people were important and widespread, but they were not the first.

Humans were already living in the Americas for at least 1,000- 3,000 years (and possibly longer) before the classic Clovis points appeared. The peopling process was more complex and multi- phase than the old “Clovis First” story suggested.

The oldest confirmed human remains in the Americas are the human coprolites (fossilized feces) from Paisley Caves in Oregon, directly dated to about 14,300- 14,500 calendar years ago. 

These contain authentic Native American mitochondrial DNA (haplogroups A2 and B2) and have been confirmed by multiple methods, including fecal biomarker analysis. They represent the earliest direct biological evidence of people in the Western Hemisphere.

Oldest skeletal remains

Human skeletons are rarer and generally younger than the earliest archaeological sites or the Paisley coprolites. The best- supported examples include:

Remains	Location	Approximate Age (cal BP)	Notes
Arlington Springs Man and Woman	Santa Rosa Island, California (Channel Islands)	~13,000- 12,700	Partial remains (mainly femurs). Among the oldest reliably dated adult skeletal remains in North America; supports early coastal migration by boat.
Anzick- 1	Near Wilsall, Montana	~12,990- 12,560	Partial skeleton of a ~1-2- year- old Clovis-associated infant, covered in red ochre and buried with tools. First ancient Native American genome fully sequenced; closely related to many modern Indigenous peoples (especially Central and South American groups).
Naia (Hoyo Negro)	Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico	~12,900- 12,000	Nearly complete skeleton of a ~15-16-year- old girl. One of the oldest and most complete skeletons in the Americas; genetically linked to Native American founding populations.
Luzia	Lapa Vermelha, Brazil	~11,700- 11,200	Partial skeleton of a young woman. One of the oldest in South America.

Other early skeletons (e.g., from Upward Sun River in Alaska, ~11,500 years ago) are slightly younger.

Important context

• No widely accepted human skeletons older than ~13,000 years are known. Claims of much older human bones are rare and not broadly confirmed.
• Older evidence of people exists (tools, footprints at White Sands, sites like Monte Verde or Cooper’s Ferry), but these are not human remains themselves.
• Preservation is poor for very early skeletons due to the age, climate, and acidic soils in many areas, which is why coprolites, tools, and footprints often provide the earliest signals.

In short, the Paisley Caves coprolites hold the current record for the oldest confirmed human biological remains, while Arlington Springs and Anzick-1 represent the oldest well- dated skeletal evidence in North America.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Oldest confirmed human remains in the Americas and the climate of that time

Oldest confirmed human remains

• Oldest biological remains: Human coprolites (fossilized feces) from Paisley Caves (Oregon), directly dated to roughly 14,300-14,500 calendar years ago. These contain authentic Native American mitochondrial DNA and have been confirmed by multiple independent methods (including fecal biomarkers). They are currently the oldest widely accepted direct human biological evidence in the Americas.⁠
• Oldest skeletal remains:
  • Arlington Springs Man and Woman (Santa Rosa Island, California Channel Islands), partial remains (mainly femurs) dated to about 13,000-12,700 years ago. Among the oldest reliably dated adult skeletal remains in North America.
  • Anzick- 1 (Montana), partial skeleton of a 1- 2- year-old Clovis-associated infant, dated to roughly 12,990- 12,560 years ago.
  • Naia (Hoyo Negro cave, Yucatán, Mexico), nearly complete skeleton of a teenage girl, dated to about 12,900–12,000 years ago.

No widely accepted human skeletons older than ~13,000 years are known. Older evidence of people (tools, footprints, sites) exists, but those are not human remains.

Climate at the time (~14,500- 12,500 years ago)

This period falls in the late Pleistocene during the final stages of the last Ice Age (deglaciation), specifically spanning the end of Heinrich Stadial 1 into the Bølling- Allerød interstadial (a major rapid warming phase that began around 14,700-14,600 years ago), followed later by the Younger Dryas cold snap (~12,900-11,700 years ago).

Key climate features:

• Temperatures were still several degrees Celsius colder than today overall (estimates for the Americas during the broader Last Glacial Maximum were roughly 4- 8°C cooler on average), but the Bølling- Allerød brought abrupt warming.
• Ice sheets: Massive Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets still covered most of Canada and parts of the northern U.S., blocking or restricting interior routes. Sea levels were much lower (~100- 120 m lower than today during the peak of the Ice Age, still significantly lower by 14- 13 ka), exposing broad coastal shelves.
• Regional environments:
  • Near Paisley Caves (Great Basin, Oregon): The area was near the high shorelines of large pluvial Lake Chewaucan. Conditions supported wetlands, fish, waterfowl, and megafauna (camels, horses, bison). Lakes were high during the Bølling- Allerød due to a northward shift in the winter storm track, then declined later.
  • Channel Islands (Arlington Springs): Cooler and moister than today. The four northern Channel Islands formed one larger island (“Santarosae”). Pygmy mammoths were still present.
  • Broader Americas: Mosaic landscapes with steppe- tundra, grasslands, woodlands, and expanding forests in places as temperatures rose. Precipitation patterns varied strongly by region.

Climate impacts on early humans (and human impacts on the environment)

• Facilitated migration and settlement: Warming after the Last Glacial Maximum (~19 ka onward) and especially the Bølling- Allerød opened coastal routes (kelp highways) and later the ice- free corridor. Lower sea levels created more land and productive coastal environments. People arrived at a landscape still rich in megafauna.
• Resource opportunities and challenges: Early groups were broad-spectrum foragers and hunters who exploited wetlands, fish, small game, plants, and large mammals. Rapid climate shifts created patchy, dynamic environments that required mobility and flexible adaptations.
• Stress and extinctions: The transition involved abrupt swings (warming then the Younger Dryas cooling). These changes, combined with human hunting, are linked to the extinction of many North American megafauna species around 13,000-12,700 years ago. In some regions (e.g., southern California), warming, drying, and increased fire activity coincided with population declines of large mammals.
• Human environmental impact: Even small human populations could influence landscapes through hunting and fire use. Climate- driven vegetation shifts and fire regimes interacted with human presence.

In summary, the people who left the Paisley Caves coprolites and the slightly later skeletal remains lived during a period of rapid deglacial warming and environmental upheaval. The climate both enabled their spread across the continents and presented significant adaptive challenges as ecosystems transformed at the end of the Ice Age.