Campo Laborde: A Late Pleistocene giant ground sloth kill and butchering site in the Pampas

The extinction of Pleistocene megafauna and the role played by humans have been subjects of constant debate in American archeology. Previous evidence from the Pampas region of Argentina suggested that this environment might have provided a refugium for the Holocene survival of several megamammals. H...

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Published inScience advances Vol. 5; no. 3; p. eaau4546
Main Authors Politis, Gustavo G, Messineo, Pablo G, Stafford, Jr, Thomas W, Lindsey, Emily L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 01.03.2019
Subjects
Animals
Anthropology
Archaeology
Fossils
Geography
Humans
Radiometric Dating
SciAdv r-articles
Sloths
South Africa
South Africa
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Summary:The extinction of Pleistocene megafauna and the role played by humans have been subjects of constant debate in American archeology. Previous evidence from the Pampas region of Argentina suggested that this environment might have provided a refugium for the Holocene survival of several megamammals. However, recent excavations and more advanced accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating at Campo Laborde site in the Argentinian Pampas challenge the Holocene survival of Pleistocene megamammals and provide original and high-quality information documenting direct human impact on the Pleistocene fauna. The new data offer definitive evidence for hunting and butchering of (giant ground sloth) at 12,600 cal years BP and dispute previous interpretations that Pleistocene megamammals survived into the Holocene in the Pampas.
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ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aau4546