Mammoths were central to ancient American diets says new study

Mammoths were central to ancient American diets says new study
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 06, 2024

A new study provides direct evidence that ancient Americans heavily relied on mammoths and other large animals as primary food sources. These findings illuminate how early humans expanded rapidly across the Americas while contributing to the extinction of Ice Age megafauna.

Published in the Dec. 4 issue of Science Advances, the research used stable isotope analysis to reconstruct the diet of a Clovis-era woman, based on data from a 13,000-year-old burial site in Montana. Until now, prehistoric diets were typically inferred from tools or animal remains, but this study provides a chemical analysis of food consumption.

The findings confirm that Clovis people specialized in hunting large game rather than relying on smaller animals or plant-based foraging. Mammoths, which ranged across northern Asia and the Americas during the Ice Age, were a dependable and nutrient-rich resource for these highly mobile communities.

"The focus on mammoths helps explain how Clovis people could spread throughout North America and into South America in just a few hundred years," said James Chatters of McMaster University, a co-lead author of the study.

Co-lead author Ben Potter, an archaeologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, highlighted how hunting large animals like mammoths shaped the mobility and technology of the Clovis people. "They transported resources like toolstone over hundreds of miles," he noted, emphasizing that such practices allowed them to adapt to varying regions without dependence on localized smaller game.

Using isotopic data from prior research on Anzick-1, an 18-month-old Clovis child, the team modeled the diet of his mother. Adjusting for nursing effects, they estimated that 40% of her diet came from mammoth meat, while other large animals like elk and bison made up the rest. Small mammals played a negligible role in her nutrition.

"Isotopes provide a chemical fingerprint of a consumer's diet and can be compared with those from potential diet items to estimate the proportional contribution of different diet items," explained Mat Wooller, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope facility and study co-author.

Further comparison revealed that the Clovis mother's diet closely resembled that of the scimitar cat, a predator specializing in mammoths. These insights also suggest that early humans likely exacerbated the extinction of megafauna as climate changes reduced their habitats.

"You had the combination of a highly sophisticated hunting culture - with skills honed over 10,000 years in Eurasia - meeting naive populations of megafauna under environmental stress," said Chatters.

In addition to their scientific breakthroughs, the research team engaged extensively with Native American communities in Montana and Wyoming to address cultural concerns and foster inclusivity. Shane Doyle, executive director of Yellowstone Peoples, praised the effort: "I congratulate the team for their astounding discovery about the lifeways of Clovis-era Native people and thank them for being tribally inclusive and respectful throughout their research."

This study challenges longstanding assumptions about early human diets and highlights the adaptability of Indigenous populations who thrived by hunting one of history's most formidable animals - the mammoth.

Research Report:Mammoth featured heavily in Western Clovis diet