Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Footprints Preserve Pleistocene Hunt?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Footprints Preserve Pleistocene Hunt?

    https://www.theatlantic.com/science/...tracks/558797/


    http://advances.sciencemag.org/conte.../eaar7621.full

    Click image for larger version  Name:	988B59B7-5607-4B46-A025-D96D3F3D47DB-2546-000001CD6712E5E6.jpeg Views:	1 Size:	97.0 KB ID:	297190

    Not to be missed is the supplementary material attached to the article, for its drawings and illustrations:





    Last edited by CMD; 04-25-2018, 02:58 PM.
    Rhode Island

  • #2
    I think Bennett's take on why the hunter was stepping in the sloths tracks were wrong/humorous.

    "they were tracking an animal as practice for a future hunt, purposely stepping in the tracks to get a sense of its movements. The only alternative I can see is that they were being scientists!”

    It probably came down to them simply staying quieter until they were ready to make their move - a bit of sucky mud would make noise. Good article Charlie.
    If the women don\'t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Olden View Post
      I think Bennett's take on why the hunter was stepping in the sloths tracks were wrong/humorous.

      "they were tracking an animal as practice for a future hunt, purposely stepping in the tracks to get a sense of its movements. The only alternative I can see is that they were being scientists!”

      It probably came down to them simply staying quieter until they were ready to make their move - a bit of sucky mud would make noise. Good article Charlie.
      Yep, his take really makes little sense. I suspect they did not need practice!

      "The human footprints share the same long-axis orientation and occur inside the sloth track outline, indicating that the human trackmaker was walking intentionally within the sloth track. These steps required the person to adjust her/his normal stride to accommodate the longer stride of the sloth, which typically showed tracks spaced 0.8 and 1.1 m apart."
      Rhode Island

      Comment


      • #4
        What a mind blowing discovery this actually is. Fun studying the diagrams supplementing the study, showing the density of the tracks and the pattern displayed. Where human and sloth tracks converge, for instance, the sloth tracks display what is called a "flailing circle", a sudden interruption in the linear track, changing to evidence of the animal pivoting on its heels, and facing different directions, as you might expect if suddenly surrounded and fending off predators, flailing in the process.

        If their interpretation of the site is correct, it's one of the most spectacular examples of an activity frozen in time. That's what trace fossils can do that fossils of organisms cannot. They preserve moments in time, living activity. In this case the moment of time is a hunting scene on a terminal Pleistocene landscape in North America. The best they could do pinpointing the time was Clovis era. You can visualize the scene by examining the diagrams here and following the legend that accompanies those diagrams:

        http://advances.sciencemag.org/conte...aar7621_SM.pdf

        Has to be one of the best trace fossils ever discovered, capturing both our own species, and a brief moment of time in a Pleistocene landscape. Finding Paleo points is always an exciting way to grab the distant past and unite it with a present moment. Walking up on a preserved moment in time of those ancient hunters is flat out awesome.

        Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0465.PNG
Views:	74
Size:	47.3 KB
ID:	297246

        Last edited by CMD; 04-25-2018, 10:45 PM.
        Rhode Island

        Comment


        • #5
          "Has to be one of the best trace fossils ever discovered, capturing both our own species, and a brief moment of time in a Pleistocene landscape. Finding Paleo points is always an exciting way to grab the distant past and unite it with a present moment. Walking up on a preserved moment in time of those ancient hunters is flat out awesome."

          Agreed. This interaction between man and the extinct sloth provides some real heat to the nebulous past. I know it's a long shot, but if Bennett stays at it, maybe he'll be lucky enough to run across the actual kill site - would make a great show for PBS, or the History Channel's 'BattleField Detectives'. The site of the footprints looks as though it may be tough to preserve: they probably need to hurry.

          The Sloth being hunted wasn't the elephant sized behemoth of even earlier days, but was estimated to be about 400 lbs., and still quick enough to defend itself from predators. Here's a few links that may add insight to the extinct animals moves and habitat..

          The power in it's 'flailing circle'


          Another discovery in New Mexico
          https://www.desertusa.com/animals/sh...und-sloth.html

          http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....rial-in-guano/

          Evidence of a pre-clovis take down in Ohio
          Analysis of ground sloth bones evidences prehistoric human life in the Ohio area
          Last edited by Olden; 04-26-2018, 12:17 PM.
          If the women don\'t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

          Comment


          • CMD
            CMD commented
            Editing a comment
            I've been to the Peabody Museum at Yale, many years ago, and we were just talking about taking a friend there. Only about a 2 hour drive. I'll check out Lull's sloth. Cool info, thanks!
        Working...
        X