extinct animals of north america

[longtimefree]

im trying to get a feel for what dart points were used on. i know about the mamoth, but what other animals did the ancients hunt with an atlatl,

[neralich]

Anything and everything they could eat, I would think.
It's one of the ancient ways of grocery shoppin.....

[cgode]

hmmmm, let's see if my memory is working here and I can list a couple......Dire wolf, Cave bear, giant ground sloth, saber toothy kitty......I do know I wouldn't want to take any of these on with a stone projectile!

[marksimerson]

Mastodon, bison, other indians.....!

[Massac]

Ice Age Animals

[SmokyHill]

Originally Posted by longtimefree

im trying to get a feel for what dart points were used on. i know about the mamoth, but what other animals did the ancients hunt with an atlatl,

I’m sure many extinct species were hunted, however in the archaeological record very
few species have been found with the associated weaponry in context with the bones.

Mammoth, mastodon, extinct species of bison, and supposedly horse are on the kill-site list.
Maybe someone can add other recorded site finds?

SH

[Palmwood]

I have read or seen on TV the theories about man's contribution to the extinction of ice age animals, and I've seen convincing theories explaining these extinctions without man's contribution.

Common sense tells me it was not hunting that is to blame. There were too many species on the list that would not be a first choice food item, and a few thousand years later the human population was larger and continued to grow without extinctions until you get to modern man with modern weapons, and then only a few extinctions.

[Flyjunkie]

In the infamous La Brea Tar Pits here in Los Angeles, and dating back 40,000 yrs. they find all sorts of Ice age Mammals : Mammoths, Bison, Camels, deer, tapirs..
Interestingly they find More predatory Mammal remains : Dire wolfs top the list, but there are Saber tooth Cats, American lions, etc.

They also find remains of Giant Condors and Vultures.. I am certain that where the Thunderbird legends come from, this Condor has a giant wing span.

The reason they find more Predatory Animals is simple enough : Once a Mammoth or Horse gets caught in the Tar, the predators hear and smell the trapped animal. go to what they think is an easy meal and they in turn get trapped and die.
The Dire wolfs account for the highest individual species count.. something like 4 to 1 .. They have found about a thousand individual dire wolf remains.

rancho-la-brea/view-collections

If you every get a visit out to Los Angeles, you have to visit the George C. Page Museum it's located at the tar pits and has a wonderful collection on display.. one of my favorite Museums in Los Angeles..

[Palmwood]

Originally Posted by Flyjunkie

In the infamous La Brea Tar Pits here in Los Angeles, and dating back 40,000 yrs. they find all sorts of Ice age Mammals : Mammoths, Bison, Camels, deer, tapirs..
Interestingly they find More predatory Mammal remains : Dire wolfs top the list, but there are Saber tooth Cats, American lions, etc.

They also find remains of Giant Condors and Vultures.. I am certain that where the Thunderbird legends come from, this Condor has a giant wing span.

The reason they find more Predatory Animals is simple enough : Once a Mammoth or Horse gets caught in the Tar, the predators hear and smell the trapped animal. go to what they think is an easy meal and they in turn get trapped and die.
The Dire wolfs account for the highest individual species count.. something like 4 to 1 .. They have found about a thousand individual dire wolf remains.

rancho-la-brea/view-collections

If you every get a visit out to Los Angeles, you have to visit the George C. Page Museum it's located at the tar pits and has a wonderful collection on display.. one of my favorite Museums in Los Angeles..

Thanks for the link and info.
There was a very good documentary on the TV about the tar pits. The story followed some college kids who were learning in the field and excavating in the tar. Very tedious and dirty work.

Maybe the first Americans kept getting eaten when they showed up, until after these animals died off; lions, tigers, massive wolves and bears? I would want more than a spear.

[rokdok]

Gomphotheres for sure. Conventional science first thought these probiscideans went extinct over one million years ago, then, the experts said over 30,000 years ago in N. America. The recent finds at the El Fin del Mundo Clovis site in Sonora proved without a doubt that Clovis hunters butchered them there, moving their extinction date up once more.Experts base their theories on their best guesses.Over time, theories become dogma, and dogma becomes fact.Ice free corridor my ass.