Dissertation Research: Pleistocene Extinctions and the Human Place in Prehistoric Science

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation research project concerns, at the most general level, changing conceptions of the place of humans in nature, from the point of view of the natural and human sciences. More specifically, the research concerns the fate of the "overkill" model of Pleistocene extinctions. During the first half of the twentieth century, climatic models dominated explanations for the disappearance of more than 35 genera of American large mammals following the last ice age. Beginning in the 1960s, these models were challenged by the proposal that paleolithic human hunters, entering a continent filled with unsuspecting prey, decimated the local megafauna. The "overkill" hypothesis challenged natural and social scientists to collaborate across the traditional divide separating "human" sciences like archaeology and anthropology, and "natural" sciences like paleoecology, climatology, geology, and paleontology. In connection with the boundary issues and interdisciplinary efforts involved in debates over the place of humans in nature, the dissertation research also addresses the putative environmental implications of early human-caused extinction, and also issues concerning Native American legacies and identities.