Ice Age North Americans relied heavily on mammoths for their diet, according to new research offering the first direct evidence of their eating habits. Scientists analyzed the remains of a woman who lived about 12,800 years ago, using chemical clues found in the bones of her nursing son, discovered in Montana.
The findings reveal that 96% of her diet came from large animals, with mammoths making up 40%, followed by elk, bison, camels, and horses. These massive animals provided communities with essential meat and fat. The woman and her son were part of the Clovis culture, known for hunting megafauna with large stone tools.
Researchers believe this focus on large prey helped the Clovis people spread quickly across North and South America. The study also suggests that human hunting may have contributed to the extinction of megafauna at the end of the Ice Age.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected].