It may or may not be the oldest.”

Waters told the AP he was aware of other contenders for the oldest projectile points found in North America, but he contends there have been flaws in how the claims were substantiated. As reported in Science Advances, scientists found numerous weapons—about 3-4 inches long—while digging at the Debra L. Friedkin site, named for the family who owns the land about 40 miles northwest of Austin in central Texas. Excavations at the Debra L. Friedkin site in 2016: Spear points made of chert and other tools were discovered under several feet of sediment that dating revealed to be 15,500 years old, and pre-date Clovis, who for decades were believed to be the first people to enter the Americas. “They probably would have been used for hunting everything from mammoths and horses to deer.”

Given the age and shape of the recently found spear points, the people who used them likely arrived in the area from the Pacific coast as they circumvented the ice sheet that overlaid most of North America at the time, Waters said. Archaeologists have been scouring the Buttermilk Creek complex in central Texas since 2006, after an initial discovery there of scores of stone point fragments, which scientists suspected were the tips of pre-Clovis spearheads. Scroll down for video

A 15,000-year-old stemmed point: Researchers found a style of projectile point often attached to a weapon that would be thrown, and dated it between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago

WHAT THEY FOUND Researchers have identified a particular style of projectile point – or triangular blade often attached to a weapon that would be thrown – dated between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago, they say. Researchers found a style of projectile point often attached to a weapon that would be thrown, dated between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago. The dream has always been to find diagnostic artifacts – such as projectile points – that can be recognized as older than Clovis and this is what we have at the Friedkin site.”

It’s thought that hunting was what drove groups of ancient peoples into new areas, and at the time the spear points may have been used in hunting efforts against large game like mammoths. The earliest people in the area were hunter-gatherers who “probably moved from camp to camp over a year,” Waters said. “The peopling of the Americas during the end of the last Ice Age was a complex process and this complexity is seen in their genetic record,” the professor explained. Waters and his team say that once developed, the lanceolate fluted point technology (associated with Clovis) could have spread over much of North America into northern Mexico, or alternatively, the stemmed and lanceolate point traditions may be evidence of two separate human migrations into North America

Waters and colleagues from Baylor University and the University of Texas have had their work published in the current issue of Science Advances.
Stone tools are found in Texas dating back 15,000 years, being the oldest evidence of humans in North America.