Study Finds Early Paleoindians Hunted Mammoths Across 3 Regions, Not Generalist Prey
Updated
Updated · Popular Archaeology · Jul 1
Study Finds Early Paleoindians Hunted Mammoths Across 3 Regions, Not Generalist Prey
3 articles · Updated · Popular Archaeology · Jul 1
Summary
Science Advances research found the earliest Paleoindians across Eastern Beringia, North America’s Clovis range and South America’s Fishtail complex consistently favored large herbivores such as mammoths and giant ground sloths over smaller prey.
Faunal remains, kill sites and camps backed that pattern, while associated technology—darts, throwing spears and large-animal butchering tools—showed no evidence of trapping gear for small game or implements for plant processing.
The 3-region analysis also indicated highly mobile groups that ranged long distances, supporting the idea that specialist hunters followed preferred megafauna into new territories as they spread across the Americas.
The findings weigh against the long-running dietary generalist model and suggest that this focus on megaherbivores may also have helped drive Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions.