About all we can say for Early Man and the Park is that he was here. The
only material remains found was a Folsom-like projectile point. This
point was discovered in Burnet Cave in the Guadalupe Mountains in direct
association with extinct animal bones.
What he looked like, we have no idea; but he was apparently a nomadic
hunter and follower of game. Because he followed game is probably the
main reason he arrived here from Asia in late Pleistocene times—15 to
25,000 years ago. He hunted the now extinct bison (_antiquus_), two
species of the American horse (_Equus fraternus_ and _E. complicatus_),
a rare four-horned antelope (_Tetrameryx_), the California condor,
camel, ground sloth, and a muskox or caribou-like animal (_Bootherium_
sp.). Undoubtedly these old ones utilized plants for food too.
It is safe to assume that he dressed in skins, if he dressed at all.
Whether caves were used as shelter we do not know; but quite probably
they were, as the climate was pluvial.
The method of projection for the point mentioned likely was done either
via a lance or the atlatl (spearthrower and dart). The latter is nothing
more than a stick with a nock for the dart on one end. It extends and
gives more leverage to the arm for throwing.
Where did he go? Some call him Folsom man; others say he is of the
Cochise complex. He may have stayed where his descendants later became
what we now call the “Basketmakers.”