Only 5 of 37 extinct megafauna genera show human hunting signs. 2012 poll: 0% of 91 archaeologists blamed hunting alone. Page-Ladson site in Florida shows millennia of coexistence. Ice-free corridor was uninhabitable for 900 years after opening.
Archaeologists reject Overkill hypothesis for megafauna extinction
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Key facts
- The Pleistocene Overkill Hypothesis claims humans caused megafauna extinction through hunting
- Of 37 genera of extinct animals, only 5 show signs of human hunting - some archaeologists say only 2
- This leaves 32-35 species supposedly wiped out by humans with no evidence
- In 2012 at the Society for American Archaeology meeting, 82% of 91 archaeologists cited combination of factors, 18% cited climate change, 0% cited human hunting as main cause
- The Page-Ladson prehistory site in Florida shows humans coexisted with megafauna (mastodons, camelids, bison) for thousands of years
- The ice-free corridor on the Bering land bridge couldn't sustain life for 900 years after opening - thousands of years after humans were already in North America
- Genetic studies suggest as few as 70 people populated North America in the first wave
- The hypothesis uses assumptions from island species biology that don't transfer to mainland megafauna
Sources
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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iaa.uni-rostock.de
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history.com
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