Evidence has been found in an Idaho Forest (USA), in an area known as Kelly Forks on the Clearwater River, of a 2,000 year period of continuous occupation dating back to 11,500 BCE. Several examples of rock tools were found in a layer of sediment, carbon dated to between 11,740 and 11,490 BCE. More significantly, in a layer above these finds, approximately 2,000 years more recent, were some very fine examples of stone points which had been fashioned in the style known as Western Stemmed tradition.
     Researchers have been finding more and more examples of this type of stone working across wide areas of the North west of America, proving evidence of a large scale pre-Clovis migration.
     Laura Longstaff, of the University of Idaho, is quoted as saying "As research progresses on the Western Stemmed Tradition, it is looking like the people who produced this type of tool were here in the Pacific Northwest before Clovis peoples, but during the same period when Clovis peoples were moving through other regions of North America," She went on to say "This is supported by the archaeological record in the Clearwater River region, where the earliest material found is associated with Windust. Kelly Forks is another of the sites added to the record which potentially contains material left by the first people to call the Northwest home."

Edited from Western Digs (8 May 2014)