In Photos: New Clovis site in Sonora

El Fin del Mundo

Sonora Clovis site

(Image credit: Vance T. Holliday)

A Clovis campground excavated on a Sonora, Mexico, ranch is one of the oldest ever found. Gomphothere bones show the Clovis people hunted the extinct elephant relative. [Read the full story.]

Gomphothere jaw

Sonora gomphothere

(Image credit: Vance Holliday/University of Arizona)

A gomphothere jawbone as it was found in place, upside down, at the El Fin del Mundo site in Mexico.

Gomphothere teeth

Gomphothere jaw

(Image credit: Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales/Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia)

This gomphothere jawbone was unearthed at a Clovis hunting site in Sonora, Mexico.

Elephant ancestors

Gomphothere reconstruction

(Image credit: Sergio de la Rosa)

Sculptures by artist Sergio de la Rosa show three elephant relatives, from left to right: the mastodon, the mammoth and the gomphothere.

Clovis artistry

Sonora Clovis point

(Image credit: INAH Sonora)

A quartz Clovis point from El Fin del Mundo, an archaeological site in Sonora, Mexico.

Clovis points

(Image credit: Center for the Study of the First Americans/Texas A&M University)

The Clovis blade technology spread rapidly across North America. Here are Clovis points from various sites in the United States.

Becky Oskin
Contributing Writer
Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.