The question for archaeologists was whether these occupations before Clovis had a population large enough to sustain itself. Granted my training is somewhat dated, but I was taught a population needed roughly 500 individuals to be self-sustaining. Below that threshold a population would eventually be extinguished.

From the archaeological record, we can assume that the Clovis culture had the minimum threshold whatever it is. The pre-Clovis occupations that have been accepted as credible do not appear to have attained that minimum, so the culture or cultures died out.

Zhanfor, concerning debitage you stated, “[T]hat sort of stone chip doesn’t occur without intent.” There is a category known as geofacts as opposed to artifacts. Geofacts are items that can be produced through natural processes without human intervention. For instance, the force of flooding waters can be enough to smash together rocks of the right type at the right angle to produce stone flakes that are indistinguishable in their physical properties from debitage.

The possibility of geofacts is one reason why one pre-Clovis site, the Calico Site, has not been accepted by consensus among archaeologists. Pre-Clovis occupations at the site are dated roughly 18,000 years ago and somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. Wikipedia has a summary of the site and discusses geofacts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Early_Man_Site

Not necessarily a huge ratio of debitage per tool, but keep in mind that more tools may have been produced at the site then were deposited and recovered. The jigsaw puzzle analogy is good way to think about it, though!

A homeopathic trace of water perhaps?

In which case, according to homeopaths, Atlantis would more exist than if we found it well preserved sitting on an island somewhere.

250 flakes per tool!
…anyone find 3D jigsaw puzzles interesting might like to try their hand

Atlantis could hold a little water if it’s a vague allusion to an unknown civilization destroyed by the eruption of the Santorini volcano.