More CulturesIn southern Virginia at a multiple excavation site called Cactus Hill, lithic tool assemblages have been found that may pre-date Clovis type projectile points and other tools. Some of the artifacts found at the Cactus Hill sites are controversial owing to their very early dates. In one site being excavated by Michael F. Johnson and the Fairfax County Park Authority, stone tools were found fully nine inches below well established Clovis horizon level artifacts. The Clovis horizon is firmly dated at a variety of sites throughout North America and is generally believed to be at least 13,000 B.P. The tools included quartzite blades, blade fragments and both halves of a broken spear point. Johnson sees significant differences between Clovis points and the tools beneath the Clovis horizon at Cactus Hill. Critics argue that the nature of the aeolean deposits of sand composing Cactus Hill may have allowed the artifacts to be moved lower by burrowing wasps or rodents. The presence of several artifacts in different locations at the same depth makes this seem unlikely to Johnson however. At an adjacent site being excavated by Joseph M. and Lynn D. McAvoy with the Nottoway River Survey, similar bladed tools have been excavated dating to 15,000 B.P. and 16,000 B.P. The dates are derived from radiocarbon methods using charcoal found in association with the tools. Cactus Hill is "one of the best candidate pre-Clovis sites to come down in a long time", says C. Vance Haynes, Jr., of the University of Arizona, a leading scholar of Paleo-Indian cultures.
From: Beardsley, Tom. "Tool Time on Cactus Hill". Scientific American Online. Nov. 1998. Accessed 23 Nov. 1999. http://www.sciam.com/1998/1198issue/1198scicit4.html