Optimal hunting and Pleistocene extinction

Webster, David; Webster, Gary S.

doi:10.1007/bf01540592

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While climatic fluctuations could have produced some extinctions of local populations, Paleoindians probably would have reacted to drops in faunal populations below certain densities-not just extinctions (Smith 1983;Webster and Webster 1984). Paleoindians could have coped with periodic resource stress in two ways: switch to a different resource in the same territory, or switch territories.…”

Section: Paleoindian Occupation Of North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Coming into the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility

Kelly¹,

Todd²

1988

Am. antiq.

479

256

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hunter-gatherer adaptations to long-term fluctuations in regional resource structure require mechanisms to cope with periodic subsistence stresses. Among documented groups, a common response to such stress is temporary movement into adjacent occupied areas-moving in with "relatives" when things go wrong. However, in the case of early (ca. 12,000-10,000 B.P.) Paleoindian groups in the Americas, the availability of neighboring groups with a detailed knowledge of local resource geography could not be relied upon. Post-Pleistocene environmental changes and the low initial population of the New World are important factors conditioning a lifeway characterized by a dependence on hunting (though not exclusively of megafauna), and by high residential, logistical, and range (territorial) mobility. Early Paleoindian groups had to adopt a subsistence technology that could be employed regardless of the specific resource microstructure. In some regards, Paleoindians seem to have behaved like tropical foragers while in others like arctic collectors. Use of high quality lithic raw materials from large quarry sources, reliance on a bifacial technology, limited use of caves and rockshelters, and a low level of processing of food products for storage all may be indicative of such a subsistence technology, which would have been unlike that of any modern hunter-gatherers.

show abstract

Section: Paleoindian Occupation Of North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Coming into the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility

Kelly¹,

Todd²

1988

Am. antiq.

479

256

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Webster and Webster (1984) argue that, once mammoth populations had been depleted, human hunters are likely to have switched to more profitable game, which may have allowed mammoth populations time to replenish. On cost-benefit grounds, it is questionable if mammoths were ever a preferred prey of Upper Palaeolithic hunters, particularly in light of the wide range of resources in the late Pleistocene environments.…”

Section: Mammoth Exploitation and Extinction In The Old Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With local extinction, we are more concerned with the detailed interactions between hunters and mammoths and must be concerned with issues such as hunting strategies and prey switching, as Webster and Webster (1984) suggest. With local extinction, we are more concerned with the detailed interactions between hunters and mammoths and must be concerned with issues such as hunting strategies and prey switching, as Webster and Webster (1984) suggest.…”

Section: Mammoth Exploitation and Extinction In The Old Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On cost-benefit grounds, it is questionable if mammoths were ever a preferred prey of Upper Palaeolithic hunters, particularly in light of the wide range of resources in the late Pleistocene environments. Webster and Webster (1984) argue that, once mammoth populations had been depleted, human hunters are likely to have switched to more profitable game, which may have allowed mammoth populations time to replenish. In addition, there may have been constraints on the intensity of mammoth hunting due to technical and organizational factors: mammoth hunting is likely to have been an activity requiring the cooperation of a large group, which may have only been feasible at certain times of the year, or, indeed, in certain years.…”

Section: Mammoth Exploitation and Extinction In The Old Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our archaeological questions can be addressed at the level of either local, regional, or species extinction. With local extinction, we are more concerned with the detailed interactions between hunters and mammoths and must be concerned with issues such as hunting strategies and prey switching, as Webster and Webster (1984) suggest. Our appropriate timescales are in single, tens, or hundreds of years.…”

Section: Mammoth Exploitation and Extinction In The Old Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Simulating Mammoth Hunting and Extinction: Implications for the Late Pleistocene of the Central Russian Plain

Mithen

1993

Archaeological Papers of the American

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mammoths were an important resource for Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. Their remains are frequently found in faunal assemblages, their bones were used for the construction of dwellings, and they figure significantly in Palaeolithic art. Mammoths became extinct in North America at ca. 11,000 BP, in Eurasia at ca. 12,000 BP, and in Siberia at ca. 10,000 BP 1 , and there has been considerable debate as to whether human predation was a causal factor. The computer simulation model described in this paper explores the effect of different types of hunting strategies on mammoth populations in a range of different environmental situations. It demonstrates that mammoth populations are extremely sensitive to predation. The simulation results are discussed with reference to the settlements on the Central Russian Plain. The results agree with Soffer's suggestion that the majority of mammoth remains probably derive from collecting, rather than hunting.

show abstract