Abstract
Processes leading to the megafauna extinctions of the late Pleistocene and early-Holocene are uncertain, with intense debate on the roles of human hunting and climatic change. Using process-explicit simulations of climate-human-woolly mammoth interactions, which integrate spatiotemporal evidence from fossils and ancient DNA, we show that humans accelerated the timing of range collapse, extirpation and eventual extinction of woolly mammoth in Eurasia. Population growth and northward migrations of people during the late Pleistocene led to the premature extirpation of populations of woolly mammoth in areas of Eurasia that were climatically suitable into the Holocene, hastening climate-driven declines by up to 4,000 years in some regions. Our simulations also pinpoint mainland Arctic refugia where mammoths likely persisted until the mid-Holocene, some 5,000 years longer than previously thought. Our results reveal that the role of humans in the extinction dynamics of woolly mammoth was long and chronic, and not limited to a Holocene over-kill.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
