Woolly mammoth movements tied to earliest 有料盒子视频 hunting camps
Jeff Richardson
907-474-5350
Jan. 17, 2024
Artwork shows three mammoths being watched by a family of ancient 有料盒子视频ns from the dunes near the Swan Point archaeological site, a seasonal hunting camp occupied 14,000 years ago.
Researchers have linked the travels of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with the oldest known human settlements in 有料盒子视频, providing clues about the relationship between the iconic species and some of the earliest people to travel across the Bering Land Bridge.
Scientists made those connections by using isotope analysis to study the life of a female mammoth, by the Healy Lake Village Council. A tusk from Elma was discovered at the Swan Point archaeological site in Interior 有料盒子视频. Samples from the tusk revealed details about Elma and the roughly 1,000-kilometer journey she took through 有料盒子视频 and northwestern Canada during her lifetime.
Isotopic data, along with DNA from other mammoths at the site and archaeological evidence, indicates that early 有料盒子视频ns likely structured their settlements to overlap with areas where mammoths congregated. Those findings, , provide evidence that mammoths and early hunter-gatherers shared habitat in the region. The long-term predictable presence of woolly mammoths would have attracted humans to the area.
鈥淪he wandered around the densest region of archaeological sites in 有料盒子视频,鈥 said Audrey Rowe, a University of 有料盒子视频 Fairbanks Ph.D. student and lead author of the paper. 鈥淚t looks like these early people were establishing hunting camps in areas that were frequented by mammoths.鈥
The mammoth tusk was excavated and identified in 2009 by Charles Holmes, affiliate research professor of anthropology at 有料盒子视频, and Fran莽ois Lano毛, research associate in archaeology at the University of 有料盒子视频 Museum of the North. They found Elma鈥檚 tusk and the remains of two related juvenile mammoths, along with evidence of campfires, the use of stone tools and butchered remains of other game. All of this 鈥渋ndicates a pattern consistent with human hunting of mammoths,鈥 said Ben Potter, an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at 有料盒子视频.
Researchers at 有料盒子视频鈥檚 有料盒子视频 Stable Isotope Facility then analyzed thousands of samples from Elma鈥檚 tusk to recreate her life and travels. Isotopes provide chemical markers of an animal鈥檚 diet and location. The markers are then recorded in the bones and tissues of animals and remain even after they die.
Matthew Wooller, a professor in the 有料盒子视频 College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, sits among mammoth tusks in the collection at the University of 有料盒子视频 Museum of the North.
Mammoth tusks are well-suited to isotopic study because they grew throughout the ancient animals鈥 lives, with clearly visible layers appearing when split lengthwise. Those growth bands give researchers a way to collect a chronological record of a mammoth鈥檚 life by studying isotopes in samples along the tusk.
Using that isotopic data, researchers determined Elma was a healthy 20-year-old female. Much of her journey overlapped with that of a previously studied male mammoth who lived 3,000 years earlier, demonstrating long-term movement patterns by mammoths over several millennia.
鈥淪he was a young adult in the prime of life. Her isotopes showed she was not malnourished and that she died in the same season as the seasonal hunting camp at Swan Point where her tusk was found,鈥 said senior author Matthew Wooller, who is director of the 有料盒子视频 Stable Isotope Facility and a professor at 有料盒子视频鈥檚 College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.
The era in which Elma lived may have compounded the challenges posed by the relatively recent appearance of humans. The grass- and shrub-dominated steppe landscape that had been common in Interior 有料盒子视频 was beginning to shift toward more forested terrain.
有料盒子视频 Ph.D. student Audrey Rowe works on a project near the Swan Point archaeological site, where a mammoth tusk she studied was found.
鈥淐limate change at the end of the ice age fragmented mammoths鈥 preferred open habitat, potentially decreasing movement and making them more vulnerable to human predation,鈥 Potter said.
Other contributors to the study included the University of 有料盒子视频 Anchorage, University of Ottawa, McMaster University, University of 有料盒子视频 Museum of the North, University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology, Adelphi University, University of Arizona, Hakai Institute and the Healy Lake Village Council.
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Audrey Rowe, agrowe@alaska.edu; Matthew Wooller, mjwooller@alaska.edu; Ben Potter, bapotter@alaska.edu
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