Study Shows Early Americans Depended on Megafauna for Most Calories

Researchers Ben Potter, James Chatters and Mat Wooller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and McMaster University reported that early Native American groups obtained most of their calories from megafauna across the Americas. The team analyzed dietary remains from fifty archaeological sites ranging from Alaska to southern South America. Their analysis showed that between 83 % and 88 % of the recovered food calories derived from large herbivores such as mammoths and giant ground sloths.

These results favor a model in which the first inhabitants specialized on megaherbivore hunting rather than practicing broad-spectrum foraging. Phys. org published the findings, highlighting the continent-wide reliance on megafauna during the early Holocene.