Clovis

Genetic studies of living Native Americans and ancient remains are revising our theories about America’s first inhabitants.

Until recently, the reigning theory on who the first Homo sapiens in North America were pointed to the Clovis people, evidence of whose culture was discovered in the American Southwest. That theory has been powerfully challenged by, among others, Meadowcroft, an archaeological dig in western Pennsylvania that began in the 1970s.