Although it was thought that they ate mainly small animals, the early people of North America may have actually eaten mainly mammoths, which may have contributed to the extinction of the species.
Prehistoric men are often depicted hunting. MammothMammothThus contributing to the extinction of a species that is already threatened by climate change PleistocenePleistocene. This image is based on several bones of these elephants found at prehistoric occupation sites.
Analysis of the baby’s bones reveals what its mother ate 13,000 years ago.
The new research, published in the journal Nature, reveals that hunter-gatherers definitely ate mammoths, and in large quantities. Advances in science. Researchers have actually analyzed the isotopic composition of the bones of Anzick-1, a child who was 18 months old at the time of his death, whose remains were found in Montana. This child lived in this region of North America 13,000 years ago. Thus he belonged to the people of the Clovis culture, the ancestors of the American Indians.
The foods we consume have a specific chemical signature, which can be found in our bone structure. By analyzing the isotopic signature of human remains and comparing it to plants and animals in the same environment, it is possible to determine what the diet of the individuals studied was. Anzac was still a baby who was definitely breastfed at the time of his death, but based on his bones, analysis of his mother’s diet required a model to find him.
Mammoth… and more mammoth!
The results show that mammoth meat then represented 40% of the diet that would have been met by meat.ElanElan and bison. While we thought that the little ones MammalsMammals Representing an important part of the resource, these new findings show the opposite, that this population specialized in hunting large animals.
The slaughter of mammoths, which allowed a significant supply ProteinProteincertainly contributed to the ability of these nomadic peoples to rapidly colonize vast areas.
