Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population

In the 1970s, Paul Martin proposed that big game hunters armed with fluted projectile points colonized the Americas and drove the extinction of megafauna. Around fifty years later, the central role of humans in the extinctions is still strongly debated in North American archaeology, but little consi...

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Autores principales: Prates, Luciano Raúl, Pérez, Sergio Iván
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Arqueología
Temporal dynamic
Spatial distribution
South American megafauna
Extinctions
Humans
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/123545
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-123545
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Arqueología
Temporal dynamic
Spatial distribution
South American megafauna
Extinctions
Humans
spellingShingle Arqueología
Temporal dynamic
Spatial distribution
South American megafauna
Extinctions
Humans
Prates, Luciano Raúl
Pérez, Sergio Iván
Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population
topic_facet Arqueología
Temporal dynamic
Spatial distribution
South American megafauna
Extinctions
Humans
description In the 1970s, Paul Martin proposed that big game hunters armed with fluted projectile points colonized the Americas and drove the extinction of megafauna. Around fifty years later, the central role of humans in the extinctions is still strongly debated in North American archaeology, but little considered in South America. Here we analyze the temporal dynamic and spatial distribution of South American megafauna and fluted (Fishtail) projectile points to evaluate the role of humans in Pleistocene extinctions. We observe a strong relationship between the temporal density and spatial distribution of megafaunal species stratigraphically associated with humans and Fishtail projectile points, as well as with the fluctuations in human demography. On this basis we propose that the direct effect of human predation was the main factor driving the megafaunal decline, with other secondary, but necessary, co-occurring factors for the collapse of the megafaunal community. Human arrival in South America predated the extinction of regional megafauna by a substantial margin, which has suggested a different cause for the extinctions. However, here, the authors show that megafaunal extinctions do correspond to the spread of hunting tools and human population shifts.
format Articulo
Articulo
author Prates, Luciano Raúl
Pérez, Sergio Iván
author_facet Prates, Luciano Raúl
Pérez, Sergio Iván
author_sort Prates, Luciano Raúl
title Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population
title_short Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population
title_full Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population
title_fullStr Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population
title_full_unstemmed Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population
title_sort late pleistocene south american megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of fishtail points and human population
publishDate 2021
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/123545
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AT perezsergioivan latepleistocenesouthamericanmegafaunalextinctionsassociatedwithriseoffishtailpointsandhumanpopulation
bdutipo_str Repositorios
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