A 9,000-year-old spear point found near Plainview changed American archaeology

In 1941, people discovered an ancient bison kill site near Plainview. The bones dated to roughly 7,000 to 9,000 years ago. Archaeologists also found a spear point unlike any they had seen before. They named it the Plainview point, after the county seat.

The discovery mattered because it proved that hunters lived and worked on the High Plains thousands of years before written records. Ancient people were here long before anyone expected.

The Llano Estacado Museum sits on the Wayland Baptist University campus in Plainview. It has exhibits on local prehistory and history, including this find. The Texas State Historical Association also documents the discovery in the Handbook of Texas.