Francis and Iraq’s Ambassador to the United States Fareed Yasseen signed a ceremonial certificate transferring ownership of the artifact from the United States to Iraq. HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Steve K. HSI special agents seized the tablet from the Museum in September 2019, also known as the Hobby Lobby Case. (“Hobby Lobby”), an arts-and-crafts retailer based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for display at the Museum of the Bible. An international auction house (the “Auction House”) later sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. The “Gilgamesh Dream Tablet,” originated in what is now modern-day Iraq and entered the United States in violation of federal law. The repatriation ceremony of the $1.7 million artifact took place at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). What do you think the owner of the Ferry Farm Clovis point was doing with theirs when they lost it? We may never know, but what we do know is that it gives us evidence that people were living along the Rappahannock River nearly 13,000 years ago.WASHINGTON - Yesterday, the United States returned a rare cuneiform tablet bearing a portion of the epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian poem considered one of the world’s oldest works of literature, to the Republic of Iraq, following an investigation by U.S. Although the extent to which Clovis people relied on meat from such huge creatures is debatable, they probably used their fluted points to bring down a few mammoths and mastodons, at least in the western United States. As projectile points, they were likely used on atlatl darts for hunting. Although Clovis points were probably multi-purpose tools used as both knives and projectile points. The atlatl essentially acts as an extension of the arm, creating a longer lever that pushes the dart farther and faster by applying more force with less energy. Greater distance and speed are achieved by launching the dart with a spear thrower called an atlatl (pronounced “at-lattle”). In this context, a dart is like a spear but with a more flexible and lightweight shaft that can fly farther and with greater velocity. These darts were not like you throw at a dartboard in a bar. This begs the question: What moved? Was it the people making the Clovis points? Or was it the technique of making the Clovis points? Was there a particular group of fluted-point-making people sprinting across the North American or were there already enough people on the pre-Clovis landscape that it the idea of making fluted points just spread from group to group? Archaeologists are working to answer these questions.Īs mentioned, one use for Clovis points were in darts. It’s even more interesting to consider that these points got deposited all across North America in such a relatively short time span of maybe 700 years. One of the interesting things about Clovis culture is that it is so widespread- no later cultures made artifacts that are found across such a vast area. Jasper flakes similar to the material of the Clovis point - a byproduct of stone tool manufacture - that were excavated at Ferry Farm.Ĭlovis points date to a fairly narrow period from roughly 13,500 to about 12,800 years ago, and are found almost everywhere in North America, from the Southwest to New England. The sides of the point would be ground near the base to dull them so the point could be secured in its haft with sinew or cordage without cutting through these bindings. The fluted point could then easily be slid into a notched wooden or bone shaft- a process called hafting- to make a knife or dart (more on darts below). These flutes are narrow channels where flakes of stone were carefully removed from both sides of the point to make it thinner. The Clovis people made distinctive projectile points immediately recognizable by their lanceolate or narrow oval shape that tapers to a point at one end and the presence of “flutes” on their bases. The Clovis culture were some of the earliest inhabitants of North America, and was named after the Clovis “type site” (an archaeological site where a certain culture or artifact type is first recognized) near the town of Clovis, New Mexico. These are in the collection of the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist. Clovis points from the Rummells-Maske Site in Iowa.
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