Bone is organic material, and in most archaeological contexts it does not survive the twelve thousand years since the Clovis horizon intact.

The alkaline conditions of many soils, the activity of bacteria that break down organic compounds, and the physical processes of trampling and mechanical degradation all work against the preservation of bone tools from this period.

That the Anzick burial preserved bone tools alongside stone tools is partly a function of the specific conditions of the burial — the ochre, the protection of the rock shelter, the low-humidity environment of the Montana hillside — and it makes the Anzick assemblage even more significant as a window into Clovis material culture.

The bone tools from Anzick are made from the bones of large mammals — most likely from the megafauna that Clovis people hunted and butchered.