Archaeology Dictionary:
megafauna extinction
[Ge]
All over the world the early Holocene period saw the decline and extinction of megafauna. The causes of this are a matter of some debate. Changing environmental and climatic conditions must have played a part, but so too did the activities of hunter-gatherer populations. With reference to North America, where 32 genera of mammals became extinct, Paul Martin has argued that the Clovis Culture big-game hunters were responsible for the megafauna extinction because of wasteful hunting methods.
