4 ms·

Late Pleistocene lasted from 129,000 to 11,700 BC. Younger Dryas happened like 12k years bc. That's not a very long period of time to me. How long did humans an

Late Pleistocene lasted from 129,000 to 11,700 BC. Younger Dryas happened like 12k years bc. That's not a very long period of time to me. How long did humans and mammoths co-exist? I've no idea but I've always assumed for tens of thousands of years at least. I'm sure humans hunting mammoths didn't help their population to survive but I think it's a bit harsh to blame humanity for wiping out mammoths when there was a huge extinction event happening 12k BC that almost wiped out humans too along with the megafauna. Meanwhile africa didn't have this extinction event and their megafauna is still intact regardless of humans. Well, now with gunpowder and whatnot they're threatened but it's not like stone age hunter gatherers had guns to shoot mammoths with.

AndrewKemendo 4y ago
>How long did humans and mammoths co-exist? The research seems to indicate that the overlap was from ~150,000BC until the QME crash ~10,000BC that you describe. So, the answer would be "for the majority of anatomical Human's history until they all died off"
- syrrim 4y ago
  Is that humans specifically, or hominids generally? Not that the distinction matters too much, but it could be a source of confusion.
  - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
    Anatomically modern Humans, the wikipedia on this is strikingly well written: >Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH)[1] are terms used to distinguish Homo sapiens (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extinct archaic human species. This distinction is useful especially for times and regions where anatomically modern and archaic humans co-existed, for example, in Paleolithic Europe. Among the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens are those found at the Omo-Kibish I archaeological site in south-western Ethiopia, dating to about 233,000[2] to 196,000 years ago,[3] the Florisbad site in South Africa, dating to about 259,000 years ago, and the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco, dated about 315,000 years ago. This is THE most important distinction to make as people seem to think that Humans prior to the year zero were neandertal or some proto-human Humans just like you and me are about 200,000 years old
- dfc 4y ago
  What is the "QME crash"?
  - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
    Quaternary Megafauna Extinction https://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kusnickj/geology105/modelpaper.pdf https://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kusnickj/geology105/modelpaper....
dron57 4y ago
Another explanation could be that African mega-fauna evolved in close proximity to hominids, making them less susceptible to the pressures of being over-hunted. That could by why Eurasian, American and Australian mega-fauna went extinct shortly after the arrival of humans whereas they survived in Africa.
runesofdoom 4y ago
The isolated mammoth population on Wrangel Island in the Arctic lasted until ~2000BC. [1] They died out before humans arrived at their island, possibly driven extinct by 'genomic meltdown'.[2] [1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379119301398 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027737911... [2]https://www.science.org/content/article/last-lonely-woolly-mammoths-faced-genomic-meltdown https://www.science.org/content/article/last-lonely-woolly-m...

AndrewKemendo 4y ago

>How long did humans and mammoths co-exist? The research seems to indicate that the overlap was from ~150,000BC until the QME crash ~10,000BC that you describe. So, the answer would be "for the majority of anatomical Human's history until they all died off"

syrrim 4y ago
Is that humans specifically, or hominids generally? Not that the distinction matters too much, but it could be a source of confusion.
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  Anatomically modern Humans, the wikipedia on this is strikingly well written: >Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH)[1] are terms used to distinguish Homo sapiens (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extinct archaic human species. This distinction is useful especially for times and regions where anatomically modern and archaic humans co-existed, for example, in Paleolithic Europe. Among the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens are those found at the Omo-Kibish I archaeological site in south-western Ethiopia, dating to about 233,000[2] to 196,000 years ago,[3] the Florisbad site in South Africa, dating to about 259,000 years ago, and the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco, dated about 315,000 years ago. This is THE most important distinction to make as people seem to think that Humans prior to the year zero were neandertal or some proto-human Humans just like you and me are about 200,000 years old
dfc 4y ago
What is the "QME crash"?
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  Quaternary Megafauna Extinction https://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kusnickj/geology105/modelpaper.pdf https://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kusnickj/geology105/modelpaper....

dron57 4y ago

Another explanation could be that African mega-fauna evolved in close proximity to hominids, making them less susceptible to the pressures of being over-hunted. That could by why Eurasian, American and Australian mega-fauna went extinct shortly after the arrival of humans whereas they survived in Africa.

runesofdoom 4y ago

The isolated mammoth population on Wrangel Island in the Arctic lasted until ~2000BC. [1] They died out before humans arrived at their island, possibly driven extinct by 'genomic meltdown'.[2] [1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379119301398 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027737911... [2]https://www.science.org/content/article/last-lonely-woolly-mammoths-faced-genomic-meltdown https://www.science.org/content/article/last-lonely-woolly-m...