ISS 310 03 Early human animal relationships 1 29 2014 Geological Time Human occupation of North American occurred during the end of the Pleistocene era ca 20 000 12 000 years ago Pleistocene 3 3mya to 10kya a period of glacial advance and retreat Pleistocene North America dominated by the ice sheet covering northern part of the continent Pleistocene Megafauna large animals o Mastodon o o o o Longhorned Bison Yukon Horse Sloth herbivores Saber toothed Tiger Peopling North America There are multiple theories Clovis First and the Ice Free Corridor o o o 13 500 years ago when the ice free corridor was open From Asia through Alaska to North America Between Cordilleran Ice sheet and Laurentide Ice sheet Beringia Standstill 30k to 15k years ago Based on DNA evidence o o o Humans were in the Beringia 30k years ago camped there for a while o Then swift peopling of the Americas 15k years ago single massive migration Coastal Migration pre Clovis theory 20 000 years ago o o Monte Verde controversial archeological site found in the 1980s Controversial because it was dated to 20k years ago which would make the Clovis theory false o Migrated via boats along the coast We know boats were available because Australia was settled 60 000 years ago 40 mile gap of ocean water o o Coast is rich in resources 10K to be migrating down the coast fairly rapid Solutrean Migration 23k years ago The most controversial of the theories o o o One major archeologist behind it at the Smithsonian o o Major Piece of Evidence Technology The Eastern part of the continent was settled before the Western part from Spain Clovus pointe a spear point broken off of a larger rock flat center region vs a Solutrean which doesn t have a flat center region found in spain o Not a popular theory because they had to travel through vast amounts of ocean near a volatile ice coastal line Landfall and First Impact Pleistocene Extinction ISS 310 03 Early human animal relationships 1 29 2014 Over 80 of the mammalian species go extinct o What happened and why Four Major Theories o Non Human causes Overchill Overgrill o Human causes Overill Overkill Traditional Overkill 2nd Order Predation Overchill o Prior to the end of the last Ice Age there was a sudden coldsnap referred to as the Younger Dryas THEORY the environmental change made it difficult for the megafauna to survive due to changes in their food base o Grasses changed due to temperatures which upset the herbivores They were adapted to very specific grass types o PROBLEM megafauna had survived previous environmental shifts of this type Overgrill Period of glacial advance and retreat o A comet struck the earth 13 5k years ago o THEORY the commentary impact created a sudden extreme environmental shift that led to mass extinctions More extreme than overchill theory wouldn t shift grass species it would simply kill them off o PROBLEM despite evidence of the impact and extinctions additional species had been dying off prior to the event Didn t cover entire continent other species were dying off before it struck Overill o Humans entered the new world ca 20 to 13 500 years ago o THEORY human induced disease either from themselves or invasive animal species led to the extinctions o Humans brought disease or things that came with humans did such as rats or rodents PROBLEM no evidence Also could not be responsible for extinctions elsewhere around the globe Standard Overkill Disease pathology just don t fit for explaining this o Humans are in North America at this time o General culture is referred to as Paleoindian o o THEORY Paleoindian people hunted the animals to extinction PROBLEM They would have been killing themselves by killing their food sources 2nd Order Predation o THEORY Paleoindians hunted the large predators i e lions tigers and bears Had been doing this in other parts of the world direct predators for food Predators were coexisting with humans for a long time in other parts of the world o Reduced competition for food i e mastodons bison horses etc ISS 310 03 Early human animal relationships 1 29 2014 o Unforseen effect With only humans as predators these large plant eating mammals thrive They overgraze the environment which is shifting at the same time Either moving or reducing Global Megafaunal Extinctions They die Regional environments worldwide change Megafauna go extinct everywhere after humans enter the picture Africa is different in terms of megafunal species extinction because they were co existing for millions of years with prehuman and human species Ideological shifts in human cultures Humans must change the way they o Get food for subsistence o Think about the world Develop complex social ritual systems that are more deeply intertwined with the natural environment Goal of social ritual systems Make sense of the changing world Create social controls that govern subsistence practices Cliff jump hunting force a herd off a cliff and gather the meat at the bottom o Wasting 90 of the meat they don t think it ll go away disappear Ensure survival and perpetuation of your people Social Controls Researchers suggest the following o Prohibitions on overhunting and hunting of certain species How easy are they to hunt Do they exist in herds or solitary Do we see them repopulating well o Rituals for increased success in hunting and food availability Monitoring hunting o Hunt weaker males and the old Kill the sick Referred to as culling the herd o Allows for animals with greater overall fitness to survive and reproduce Ritual Systems generally Explain why nature behaves the way it does World inhabited by spirits that control elements of the environment Create rituals for interacting with these spirits Obtain help or support of spirit patrons and work with them for positive outcomes Obtain power that is used individually for positive outcomes Ritual Systems the dark side People are people i e good and bad Sorcery and witchcraft Use of power for negative outcomes i e curses hexes etc Can also be used to label people who don t fit in when problems arise People who don t pull their weight in hunter gather societies o o o o ISS 310 03 Early human animal relationships 1 29 2014 Primal Harmony Hunters foragers and fishers are the three main lifestyles All work towards maintaining balance in their perspective regions environments Maintaining Balance Requires that humans have a complete knowledge of their environments o o QUESTION what would this consist of o Catalog of potential plan and