The first people in present-day West Virginia were Paleo-Indians, who lived around 10,500-9,000 B.C. They came from Asia and were big game hunters. The climate was much colder, and they hunted animals such as mastodons, mammoths, and caribou. They lived in scattered, temporary settlements and traveled over long distances in search of game. The most common artifacts from that period are the Clovis fluted projectile points, which were often made from flint found in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The millennium of 9,000-8,000 B.C. is marked by the appearance of corner and side-notched points. These tools were different from the earlier ones because they had broader blades and notched bases instead of fluted ones.