At the end of the last ice age (ca 15,000-10,000 years ago), 85 percent of the large mammals (called megafauna) went extinct. The mass extinctions were not synchronous nor universal, and the reasons proffered for them include (but are not limited to) climate change and human intervention.
Regional Megafauna Extinctions
North America lost about 35 genera of mostly large animals, such as the ground sloth, American lion, dire wolf, and short-faced bear. At the same time 19 genera of birds disappeared; and some animals and birds made radical changes in their habitats, moving north or south.
In Eurasia, 21 taxa disappeared, and as in North America, other species dramatically altered their habitat range. It is clear there, at least, that different animals disappeared at different times within the time frame of the Late Pleistocene, and thus probably for various reasons. North American data is less clear.
Recently, evidence of the survival of several species of giant ground sloth has been discovered in the West Indies, to as late as 5,000 years ago, coincident with the arrival of humans in the region.
- American Megafaunal Extinctions Reconsidered: The Giant Ground Sloth
- Mammoths and Mastodons
- Mammoth Bone Huts
Sources
Grayson, Donald K. 2007 Deciphering North American Pleistocene Extinctions. Journal of Anthropological Research 63(2):185-213.
Steadman, David W., et al. 2005 Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(33):11763-11768.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
