The 12.9-ka ET Impact Hypothesis and North American Paleoindians

Holliday & Meltzer 2010: technological transition, not termination

what the source states

A review of the Paleoindian archaeological record concluded it provides no evidence of a continent-wide catastrophe at 12.9 ka: Clovis lithic technology gives way to Folsom and regional successors in a pattern of normal cultural transition, with no occupation gap, and "Clovis" itself denotes a technocomplex rather than a bounded population.

what we infer

The archaeological specialists' verdict on the hypothesis's most checkable human claim. The category correction matters as much as the data: a projectile-point style cannot "collapse" the way a civilization can, and the case treats conflation of the two as a red flag wherever it appears.

limitations

• Regional archaeological records vary in resolution; absence of a visible gap is weaker in poorly sampled regions.