Ice Age Diet: Mammoths on the Menu

Scientists have discovered direct evidence indicating that Ice Age North American humans, particularly the Clovis people, primarily consumed mammoths. The researchers analyzed the diet of a woman through her son's bone isotopes, revealing that megafauna made up 96% of her diet, emphasizing their role in human expansion and megafaunal extinction.

Archeologists have unearthed groundbreaking evidence that Ice Age humans in North America prominently consumed mammoths. Through sophisticated chemical analysis of isotopes in ancient remains uncovered in Montana, researchers have decoded the diet of a Clovis culture woman, who lived approximately 12,800 years ago.

The study, detailed in the journal Science Advances, reveals that megafauna, including mammoths, constituted 96% of her diet, offering insights into human expansion and the extinction of large Ice Age animals. James Chatters, co-lead author of the study, noted these immense creatures could sustain communities for extended periods, aiding human expansion into South America.

The findings could reshape understandings of human impact on megafaunal extinction at the end of the last Ice Age. Researchers suggest that Clovis people's emphasis on megafauna hunting, driven by sophisticated skills honed over millennia, contributed significantly to these extinctions.

(With inputs from agencies.)