From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo


https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/ice-age-hunters-in-south-america-preferred-now-extinct-megafauna/

The extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna may
be peoplerCOs fault after all, according to a
recent study.

A team of archaeologists recently examined animal
bones at sites dating to the waning years of the
last Ice Age. Their results suggest that extinct
megafauna like giant sloths, giant armadillos,
and elephant-like creatures were on the menu for
Pleistocene hunters in South America. And that
means human hunters may have played a nontrivial
role in killing off the continentrCOs last great
Ice Age megafauna.
...
They chose sites that dated back more than 11,600
years, before the last of the now-extinct Ice Age
megafauna vanished from the continent. The team
only counted bones with clear signs that people
had butchered the animal for food, like cut and
percussion marks.

At 15 of the 20 sites, most of the butchered bones
came from now-extinct megafauna; at 13 of those
sites, extinct Pleistocene megafauna accounted for
more than 80 percent of the total animal bones.
That suggests that ancient hunters had a clear
preference for now-extinct prey like giant sloths,
giant armadillos, extinct horses, and even relatives
of modern elephantsrCoat least when they could get
them.
...
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2