Shown is a butchered mastodon tusk from the Page-Ladson site in Florida. The curvature is typical of an upper tusk from the left side of the animal. [DC Fisher, University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology]
Posted on 05/16/2016 2:29:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The geology of the site, as well as pollen and algae finds, suggest that the hunter-gatherers encountered the mastodon next to a small pond that both humans and animals used as a water source, the researchers believe.
Waters said that the prehistoric "people knew how to find game, fresh water and materials for making tools. These people were well adapted to this environment. The site is a slam-dunk pre-Clovis site with unequivocal artifacts, clear stratigraphy and thorough dating."
Another research team previously excavated the site and found what they believed were dog remains, so dogs "would most likely have been associated with the early hunters," Waters said, indicating that the remains would be studied further. If confirmed, they could be the earliest known evidence for dogs in the Americas.
In terms of other animals, he said, "The animal bones from the site tell us that mastodon, sloth, giant armadillo, dire wolf, mammoth, horse, camel and giant bison were present. These and other animals became extinct by 12,600 years ago."
So humans co-existed with all of these animals for at least 2,000 years before they died out, Halligan said.
Waters added, "The primary driver of extinction was likely climate and environmental changes that occurred at the end of the last ice age. However, if people were hunting these animals for 2,000 years prior to extinction, they must have made some impact."
Halligan suggested that the impact might have varied, depending on the location...
David Anderson, professor and associate head of the University of Tennessee’s Department of Anthropology, told Discovery News, "The new artifacts, dates and other lines of evidence provide a compelling case for early human use of the site and, by extension, the region."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
Shown is a butchered mastodon tusk from the Page-Ladson site in Florida. The curvature is typical of an upper tusk from the left side of the animal. [DC Fisher, University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology]
Thanks BenLurkin.
Mammoths and mastodons were not the same animal, but they article seems to use the words interchangably.
my dog would have loved gnawing on that for hours...
Who were the hunters - American Indians, who crossed the “land bridge” from Siberia to Alaska...or someone else?
“Dire Wolf” is an actual scientific name? And here I thought it was something made up by Game Of Thrones.
“The primary driver of extinction was likely climate and environmental changes that occurred at the end of the last ice age.”
How could there have been climate change when they hadn’t invented cars yet? /s
My Carolina Dog boy that has stare when he’s focused on a squirrel.
For a moment, I see the hunting dog early native Americans brought with them to make it here.
Yup, I have 14,000 years of American prehistory living with me.
The scientific name is Canis dirus or "fearsome dog". Went extinct about 10,000 years ago. It was the size of a gray wolf but had a heavier build.
“And here I thought it was something made up by Game Of Thrones.”
Or the Grateful Dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBua6awzByg
It's an actual *common* name used by scientists and science teachers in reference to an extinct species. Dire wolf and short-faced bear were top predators, and would have been daunting to any humans living here at that time. BTW, I know nothin' about Game of Thrones. :')
> ...an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Canis, roughly the size of the extant gray wolf, but with a heavier build. It evolved in the New World and was its most evolutionary derived species of Canis.[8] Canis dirus lived during the Rancholabrean land mammal age of North America (240,000–10,000 years BP) and was among the many large carnivores and megaherbivores that became extinct in North and South America near the end of the Pleistocene epoch. Its ending is associated with the Quaternary extinction event.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_wolf
My 2 Brittanys would point a mastodon. Heck Scooter points at the glare from his neck ID on the wall. they bred in simple mindedness for everything BUT pointing into these dogs.
Sweet dogs though.
No?
Not made up and quite nasty. About the same height as a gray wolf with about twice the mass according to femur size.
Hunting Mastodon with a sharpened stick goes down in my book as a incredible ballsy thing to do. No question about it. Real cojones required.
(Real cojones required.)
“If you can keep them.” ~ Ben Franklin
A stick with a fine blade attached to a foreshaft stuck in the socket of a spear, all propelled by an atlatl and backed up with spare hafted foreshafts in case the first ones everyone threw didn’t do the trick.
Still ballsy, but not just a sharp stick.
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![Shown is a butchered mastodon tusk from the Page-Ladson site in Florida. The curvature is typical of an upper tusk from the left side of the animal. [DC Fisher, University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology]](http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/butchered-mastodon-tusk-670.jpg)
