The Really Ancient
Southwest

Ancient Peoples

Archaic Peoples

Pangaea

Canyon Lands

Geology & Volcanoes

Dinosaurs & More

GIS &
Mapping

      Welcome to Camp Internet's Explore the Ancient Southwest!

Archaic Specialization and Tools

As the First People ceased to travel widely, they became more specialized locally. They developed more sophisticated clothing, learned to intentionally plant seeds and grow food to harvest, and designed new fiber rope hunting traps for the smaller game. Archeologists have found yucca rope snares in Tularosa and Cordova caves in west central New Mexico that date from this time period. Eventually the spears gave way to bow and arrows. Their types of tools and hunting weapons developed distinct characteristics in each different region, and this is a sign of local specialization that did not occur in the Clovis or Folsom time periods.

In the Camp's Ancient Southwest collection, we have bone tools - awls for sewing, and two stone tools - an axe head carved to attach to a stick, and an arrow scraper flattened to smooth and straighten the shafts of arrows. These were found in 1956 at the Williams Ranch site in Arizona. These tools are similar to those used by the Archaic peoples, but date to a later time around 1,000 AD.