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Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

nytimes.com

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Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#61

Post by TheBlight »

scythe wrote: post #47
pmayrgundter wrote: post #10

Seems that Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis might fit these observations too. "We obtained radiocarbon dates on 172 specimens from seven extinct and one extant species... spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka)." YDIH event is estimated at 12900 BP and includes vast wildfires in its scenario, including in North America. Contrast that with the idea that humans have been in Sapiens form for 200…

I would suggest reading the high-ranked Google Scholar results rather than a highly fraught and questionably influenced Wikipedia talk page or a blog by a highly opinionated author. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=younger+dryas+impact+hyp...

Younger Dryas Impact Theory has always been somewhat controversial but it has basically become political due to being JRE listener coded now.

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#62

Post by Zamicol »

Horses are native to North America and became extinct after the introduction of humans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse

>Fossil evidence indicates that mastodons probably disappeared from North America about 10,500 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event of most of the Pleistocene megafauna that is widely believed to have been a result of human hunting pressure. The latest Paleo-Indians entered the Americas and expanded to relatively large numbers 13,000 years ago, and their hunting may have caused a gradual attrition of the mastodon population.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon#Extinction

As far as megafauna and climate, see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_of_the_woolly_mammoth

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#63

Post by icameron »

ygjb wrote: post #49
paganel wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why doesn't the Western media still push the discourse of sea-level rise and "NYC is going to get drowned any minute now!"?

Because rising sea levels doesn't get clicks anymore, but if you read actual literature on the topic, there are ongoing concerns and considerations. On a more practical level, it's not a major North American or European city, so it doesn't capture Western media's attention, but the Republic of Kiribati[1] has an estimated Kiribati is a canary in a coal mine for climate change related activity in coastal regions. The…

Kiribati, in more than one way is living in the future. For two hours of the day are 2 calendar days ahead of most of us. (Being UTC+14)

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#64

Post by actionfromafar »

myshpa wrote: post #40
codexb wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, for some reason, ancient humans decided not to eat all the elephants. No, it was climate change. The last, small population of mammoths that survived until 4000 years ago on Wrangel Island never came in contact with humans. They died because they were ill suited for the climate they lived in.

> ancient humans decided not to eat all the elephants Who knows why? Larger size, slower reproductive rates, and adaptations to colder climates? Maybe elephants were more socially organized and were harder to hunt? Maybe their habitats were not so densely populated by humans? We can only speculate. > No, it was climate change. While climate change certainly played a role, it's undeniable that the QME would not have b…

Elephants and humans must have evolved together, that could have helped the elephants.

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#65

Post by titzer »

goatlover wrote: post #52
nologic01 wrote: post #32

There is a certain myth that pre-industial peoples were in a more balanced relationship with nature. While less powerful technologies and thus more direct dependence on natural processes and cycles made people more atuned to nature, the broad pattern seems to be one of unhindered consumption (deforestation, hunting etc) the impact of which was limited only by the relatively small population size.

The Avatar and noble savage myth. Also used to blame all the ills of modern society on colonialism (and thus capitalism). If only we could go back to living like the indigenous lived!. Well, evidence doesn't favor them being any more noble.

We used to be limited by what our stomachs could carry, but every leap in technology amounted to storing up more food and resources for later, or consuming them conspicuously for social status, particularly to attract mates. So nowadays not even a few lifetimes of wealth (tens of millions of dollars) is enough to sate.

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#66

Post by kvetching »

TheBlight wrote: post #61
scythe wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suggest reading the high-ranked Google Scholar results rather than a highly fraught and questionably influenced Wikipedia talk page or a blog by a highly opinionated author. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=younger+dryas+impact+hyp...

Younger Dryas Impact Theory has always been somewhat controversial but it has basically become political due to being JRE listener coded now.

I prefer Robert Schoch's theory that it was a solar outburst (aka micro-nova) rather than a comet that dramatically warmed the entire Earth.

(he was also on Joe Rogan)

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#67

Post by magicalhippo »

pmayrgundter wrote: post #10

Seems that Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis might fit these observations too. "We obtained radiocarbon dates on 172 specimens from seven extinct and one extant species... spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka)." YDIH event is estimated at 12900 BP and includes vast wildfires in its scenario, including in North America. Contrast that with the idea that humans have been in Sapiens form for 200…

Not directly related but I recall watching a "documentary" on Discovery where this guy claimed that several monuments across the globe all matched up star patterns and similar astrological events from around 12k years ago IIRC.

What I recall best was some pyramids ligning up with how the stars would have been back around that time, but they've since drifted apart. He also talked about Angkor Wat and some in South Americas.

My memory is very fuzzy as this was a casual watch over a decade ago, so I don't recall the name of the guy or if the speculation had a name. I assumed it was pretty out there, though of course as presented it sounded compelling.

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#68

Post by [deleted] »

pmayrgundter wrote: post #10

Seems that Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis might fit these observations too. "We obtained radiocarbon dates on 172 specimens from seven extinct and one extant species... spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka)." YDIH event is estimated at 12900 BP and includes vast wildfires in its scenario, including in North America. Contrast that with the idea that humans have been in Sapiens form for 200…

[deleted]

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#69

Post by swagmoose »

magicalhippo wrote: post #67
pmayrgundter wrote: post #10

Seems that Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis might fit these observations too. "We obtained radiocarbon dates on 172 specimens from seven extinct and one extant species... spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka)." YDIH event is estimated at 12900 BP and includes vast wildfires in its scenario, including in North America. Contrast that with the idea that humans have been in Sapiens form for 200…

Not directly related but I recall watching a "documentary" on Discovery where this guy claimed that several monuments across the globe all matched up star patterns and similar astrological events from around 12k years ago IIRC. What I recall best was some pyramids ligning up with how the stars would have been back around that time, but they've since drifted apart. He also talked about Angkor Wat and some in South Ame…

This sounds a lot like Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix, but that was released in 2022

Re: Ancient fires drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

#70

Post by ceejayoz »

magicalhippo wrote: post #67
pmayrgundter wrote: post #10

Seems that Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis might fit these observations too. "We obtained radiocarbon dates on 172 specimens from seven extinct and one extant species... spanning 15.6 to 10.0 thousand calendar years before present (ka)." YDIH event is estimated at 12900 BP and includes vast wildfires in its scenario, including in North America. Contrast that with the idea that humans have been in Sapiens form for 200…

Not directly related but I recall watching a "documentary" on Discovery where this guy claimed that several monuments across the globe all matched up star patterns and similar astrological events from around 12k years ago IIRC. What I recall best was some pyramids ligning up with how the stars would have been back around that time, but they've since drifted apart. He also talked about Angkor Wat and some in South Ame…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory
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