Get the latest tech news

Study reveals mammoth as key food source for ancient Americans


Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food. Their research sheds new light on both the rapid expansion of humans throughout the Americas and the extinction of large ice age mammals.

The study, featured on the Dec. 4 cover of the journal Science Advances, used stable isotope analysis to model the diet of the mother of an infant discovered at a 13,000-year-old Clovis burial site in Montana. For example, the animal parts left at Clovis sites are dominated by megafauna, and the projectile points are large, affixed to darts, which were efficient distance weapons,” said co-lead author Ben Potter, an archaeology professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Other authors of the paper include Stuart J. Fiedel, independent researcher; Juliet E. Morrow, University of Arkansas; and Christopher N. Jass, Royal Alberta Museum.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Hacker News

Read more on:

Photo of Americans

Americans

Photo of Study

Study

Photo of key food source

key food source

Related news:

News photo

Heat disproportionately kills young people (study in Mexico)

News photo

Alzheimer's study shows ketone bodies help clear misfolded proteins

News photo

Drylands Now Make Up 40% of Land on Earth, Excluding Antarctica, Study Says