Murray Springs Clovis Site: Echoes of the Ice Age

Murray Springs Clovis Site, nestled in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Sierra Vista, Arizona, offers a unique window into North America's prehistoric past. Around 13,000 years ago, during the late Pleistocene era, this area served as a hunting camp for the Clovis people, a Paleoindian culture known for their distinctive fluted projectile points.Archaeologists C. Vance Haynes and Peter Mehringer discovered the site in 1966, recognizing its significance while mapping the nearby Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site. Excavations in the late 1960s and early 1970s revealed a wealth of artifacts, including stone tools, bone tools, hearths, and the remains of megafauna such as mammoths, bison, and horses. The site is particularly notable for its evidence of Clovis stone tool production and large mammal butchering, considered among the most comprehensive in the southwestern United States.Today, visitors can explore the Murray Springs Clovis Site via a short, interpretive trail. Interpretive signs along the trail describe the discoveries made at the site and provide insights into the daily lives of the Clovis people. While you won't find any original artifacts on the surface, the trail guides you through the landscape where these ancient hunters once thrived, allowing you to imagine a time when mammoths roamed the valley. The Bureau of Land Management oversees the site, ensuring its preservation for future generations.