Stone Age New York

          Sometime in the remote past, perhaps millions of years ago, a large iron meteor slammed into the ground in what is now known as central Allegany County, New York. Clovis and/or Clovis related peoples who were living in this area thirteen thousand years ago discovered the meteorite and fashioned artifacts from it.

          The artifact, styled on Clovis curved artifact typology, is an iron hammer. Measuring 5 inches at its longest point and 4-3/8 inches at its widest, this artifact weighs in at 1.59 lbs. Fluted in two places on its ventral side, both flutings are actually removal scars of two more artifacts. The larger flute at the base is clearly the shape of a stemmed triangular point, 3-5/8 inches in length, while the smaller flute above it is a Clovis Point that is 3/4 of an inch long.

          This Clovis fluted meteoritic iron tool proves that man was able to work iron into tools some 7000 years earlier than the currently accepted record, funerary iron beads found in Egypt that are approximately 6000 years old.

          The Clovis meteoritic iron artifact, combined with the previously described Clovis Heart, see "Heart of Iron", also made from meteoritic iron, represents one of the very few, if not the only, collection of Clovis meteoritic iron artifacts in the world.

          Photo 1: Clovis meteoritic iron artifact, front view.

          Photo 2: artifact, rear view.

          Photo 3: close-up of Clovis Point removal scar.

          Photo 4: close-up of stemmed triangular point removal scar.