Paleontologists explore the diet of Native Americans’ ancestors
The chemical remains of ancient humans allow paleontologists to reconstruct the diets of some of the earliest people in the Americas. The findings of these scholars show that some communities hunted mammoths for food.
To answer questions about the mode, tempo, and human ecology involved in the peopling of the Americas, we must understand subsistence economies, strategies, and diets of the first Americans. These issues are hotly contested, with multiple hypotheses that enjoy some level of support. Some researchers contend that Clovis populations were megafaunal specialists to some extent, focusing particularly on mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), while others have argued that such an adaptation was not viable, and thus, Clovis populations were more likely broad-spectrum foragers, regularly incorporating in their diet small game, plants, and perhaps fish. The resolution of this debate has profound implications for reconstructing the adaptive strategies that allowed rapid expansion of Paleoindians throughout the Western Hemisphere and assessing the impact of that expansion on megafaunal extinctions during the terminal Pleistocene…. In sum, these lines of evidence have not provided definitive answers about Clovis Paleoindian diets and no consensus has emerged within the archaeological community.
In contrast, more direct evidence of paleodiets can be gleaned from stable isotope analyses of human remains. At present, only three Clovis and Clovis-age individuals are known in the record: Anzick-1 from Montana (~12,800 calibrated years before the present), Arlington Springs from the southern California coast (~12,920 cal yr B.P.), and Hoyo Negro from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (~12,870 cal yr B.P.)…. Therefore, isotopic data from the Anzick-1 child and contemporary potential food resources from the same geographic and ecological region can provide critical direct data on Western Clovis diet and, by extension, early Paleoindian adaptive strategies.
Anzick-1 was a ~18-month-old male child found in direct association with a large assemblage of over 100 Clovis lithic and osseous artifacts near Wilsall, Montana… We averaged the three whole collagen data pairs, resulting in a δ13C value estimate of −17.9 ± 0.3‰ and δ15N value estimate of 9.3 ± 0.8‰. We then applied a correction for the nursing signal for the Anzick-1 infant…. This yielded corrected maternal diet δ13C and δ15N values of −19.7‰ and +3.5‰, respectively.
The results from model 1 indicate that although the Anzick-1 mother derived her dietary protein from multiple megaherbivores, Mammuthus contributed a substantial proportion (mean of 39 ± 12%, median of 40%). All other herbivores provide much lower contributions, ranging from 15% (Cervus) to 4% (Equini). The inclusion of small mammals (model 2) did not make any substantive difference to the model, with Mammuthus contribution remaining the highest (35 ± 15%, median of 37%). All non-Mammuthus megaherbivores contributed low percentages to the overall diet (15 to 4%), and small mammals contributed only 4% to the overall diet…. For model 3, mean dietary contribution estimates for Anzick-1 were Mammuthus (35 ± 15%), Cervus (35 ± 17%), Bison/Camelops (21 ± 15%), and Equini (10 ± 6%). Bayesian 95% credible intervals for all models indicate that there are no credible solutions that do not have substantial mammoth contributions.
In comparison to other secondary consumers, Anzick-1 maternal isotopic values are most proximal and similar to Homotherium, more distant from Arctodus and Aenocyon, and farther distant from C. lupus, Panthera, and Miracinonyx. Homotherium is considered a mammoth specialist, while less is known about Arctodus diet and behavior…. In sum, Anzick-1 mother’s placement is most similar to Homotherium, providing independent evidence of mammoth focus consistent with the Anzick-1 maternal paleodiet estimates.
Our results provide direct evidence for Western Clovis diets at ~12,800 cal yr B.P. Rather than suggesting a broad-spectrum lifeway utilizing many small- and medium-sized mammals, these analyses indicate a strong megafaunal focus, primarily on Mammuthus, followed by Cervus and Bison/Camelops…. Small mammals comprised a very small part of Anzick-1’s maternal diet (~4%) and were likely even less important than our results show…. No Clovis assemblage includes any groundstone tools suitable for bulk processing of nuts and seeds. The extent of such plant use is difficult to directly ascertain; however, we can infer relatively little plant contribution to Clovis diet given the similarity in isotopic values between Anzick-1’s mother and hypercarnivores such as Homotherium and Aenocyon, and dissimilarity from generalists such as C. lupus and omnivores such as U. arctos.
Dietary analysis of the Anzick-1 Clovis child and derived maternal diet, based on his stable carbon and nitrogen isotope composition, demonstrates that his band, and probably Western Clovis populations in general, focused on Mammuthus. Consumption of small mammals and plants was negligible and use of smaller bodied herbivores like Antilocapra and Ovis was relatively low, while Cervus and Bison consumption was more common. This suggests a clear megafaunal specialization rather than a broad-spectrum foraging strategy, consistent with Clovis residential mobility patterns and technological organization.
James C. Chatters, Ben A. Potter, Stuart J. Fiedel, Juliet E. Morrow, Christopher N. Jass, and Matthew J. Wooller, “Mammoth featured heavily in Western Clovis diet,” Science Advances (December 6, 2024).