Scientists Reveal Mammoth's 965 Km Journey Across North America

Ilmuwan Ungkap Mammoth Lakukan Perjalanan 965 Km Lintasi Amerika Utara

Scientists Reveal Mammoth's Journey 965 Km Across North America

In a new study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists have discovered that the journey of a woolly mammoth, known as Elma, is related to the oldest human settlement in Alaska. Some of Elma's tusks, which were found at the archaeological site of Swan Point in Alaska, underwent isotopic analysis that revealed she traveled as far as 600 miles throughout Alaska and northwestern Canada during her lifetime.

It seems that he also shared a habitat with Ice Age hunter-gatherers. Swan Point site is a hunting camp that was occupied around 14,000 years ago. Woolly mammoths thrived for about half a million years during the Ice Age but became extinct around 4,000 years ago due to drastic climate changes.

Scientists Reveal Mammoth's 965 Km Journey Across North America

Audrey Rowe, a doctoral student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the primary author of the paper, stated that it appears people were camping and hunting in areas frequently visited by mammoths.

"I think we were all surprised to see how closely the mammoth's preferred area overlapped with the busiest Pleistocene (ice age) archaeological site in Alaska in the years leading up to its death."
Rowe told Newsweek.

Source: Newsweek

"This is the moment when the power of review by fellow colleagues is involved," he said. "One of our anonymous reviewers asked if we saw a similar story at the end of Canada, in the area favored by mammoths in their early life. We didn't think to check it, but the reviewer's guess was correct! Indeed, mammoths spent the first half of their lives around two established archaeological sites at the end of the ice age in Yukon."

"Another Ivory Discovery"

When Elma's tusk was first excavated in 2009, archaeologists also found the remains of 2 young mammoths. In addition, they discovered a bonfire, remnants of tools, and the remains of slaughtered animals, according to the research report. All of this indicates that humans hunted mammoths, possibly explaining their shared habitat with the species.

"We believe the evidence in this paper proves the methods and motives of people hunting mammoths in Swan Point," said Rowe. "More broadly, we believe there are strong implications that people would choose where to settle and establish their hunting camps based on the predictable use of this land, which is rich in protein and fat resources like mammoths."

Gading mammoth is very valuable for studying how these animals lived because they grew throughout their lives and can provide clues about chronological events in their lives.

"He is a young adult who is at the peak of his life. His isotopes indicate that he did not experience starvation and that he died in the same season as the seasonal hunting camp at Swan Point where his ivory was found."

the words of senior author Matthew Wooller, who is also the director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility and a professor at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences UAF, in the summary of the findings.

The other important finding is that Elma's life coincided with the journey of a male mammoth that lived 3,000 years earlier than her. This indicates that mammoths repeated this journey throughout their lifetime on Earth.

This research can open the door to more studies on how humans in the ice age era coexisted with these prehistoric animals. Elma's life also helps researchers understand how this species adapted as the ice age approached its end, as she would live at a time when the landscape became greener and leafier. "This team is highly multidisciplinary with various areas of interest and expertise," said Rowe.

"Ecologists (like me) are excited to replicate analyses like this on more tusks to deepen our understanding of mammoth ecology in various locations and time periods."

The translation of the 'Bahasa' text "tambahnya" to 'English' while preserving any HTML tags is "addition."

"The information may even be practically useful if the famous effort to revive the mammoth succeeds,"

"katanya." translates to "he/she said."

"I think the more subtle implications of this research that may be more interesting to archaeologists are that the preferred areas of mammoths in western Yukon may not have been extensively studied archaeologically, and could serve as a starting point to search for more human occupation sites near the end of the ice age there."

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