Scientists have found evidence that suggests that ancient ancestors of Native Americans, known as the Clovis people, once relied on mammoths and other large animals for food. The study was featured on the December 4 cover of the Science Advances journal, and this was what scientists discovered.
A Fascinating Discovery
In 1968, the remains of an 18-month-old child were found near Wilsall, a small town nestled in southwest Montana. It was estimated that the child was buried approximately 13,000 years ago. But recently, scientists made a fascinating discovery while examining the chemical signatures left by food items in the little boy’s remains.
His Mother’s Diet
The young boy was nursing at the time of his death, and scientists were able to get some information on his mother’s diet. Using stable isotope analysis, scientists discovered that 35% of her diet consisted of mammoth meat, along with elk, bison, and camel, while her consumption of small mammals and plants was negligible.
Isotopes
Mat Wooller, an author on the study and director of the Alaska Stable Isotope facility at UAF, said, “Isotopes provide a chemical fingerprint of a consumer’s diet and can be compared with those from potential diet items to estimate the proportional contribution of different diet items.”
A Minor Role
Scientists were surprised to find that smaller mammals, which were thought to have been an important food source, played a very minor role in the mother’s diet. Her diet was compared to those of other omnivores and carnivores from the same time, including lions, bears, and wolves, but it was most similar to that of a scimitar cat, which specialized in killing large mammals in cold climates.
A Contribution
The study also found that it was likely that early humans may contributed to the extinction of large ice age animals, especially when environmental changes began reducing their habitats.
Human Predation
“If the climate is changing in a way that reduces the suitable habitat for some of these megafauna, then it makes them potentially more susceptible to human predation. These people were very effective hunters,” said co-lead author Ben Potter, an archaeology professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Environmental Stress
Co-lead author James Chatters of McMaster University said, “You had the combination of a highly sophisticated hunting culture — with skills honed over 10,000 years in Eurasia — meeting naïve populations of megafauna under environmental stress.”
Could It Feed Us Again?
4,000 years ago, the Woolly mammoth went extinct, which is why it’s so strange that a cultivated meat company has created a mammoth meatball, resurrecting the flesh of the long-extinct animal. Is it possible that mammoth meat could feed us once again?
A Different Approach
Vow, an Australian company, is taking a different approach to cultured meat. This company aims to demonstrate the possibility of cultivating meat from cells without slaughtering animals. It also aims to emphasize the connection between mass livestock farming and its impact on wildlife loss and climate change.
Alternatives
Many companies are developing alternatives to traditional meats like chicken, pork, and beef. However, Vow is taking a different approach by combining cells from unconventional species to create entirely new types of meat.
Mammoth Meat
The company has explored over 50 species so far, including alpaca, buffalo, crocodile, kangaroo, peacocks, various fish, and, of course, mammoth! This means that mammoth meat could feed us once more, even if it isn’t the real thing.
Inventing Meat
George Peppou, CEO of Vow, said, “The goal is to transition a few billion meat eaters away from eating [conventional] animal protein to eating things that can be produced in electrified systems. We believe the best way to do that is to invent meat. We look for cells that are easy to grow, really tasty and nutritious, and then mix and match those cells to create really tasty meat.”
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