A distaff mammoth that be 14,000 years ago made a trek across hundreds of miles of tundra to a hunter - accumulator village in central Alaska , accord to a squad of scientist that latterly scrutinized isotopes in the tusk .
The monumental proboscidean was 20 when she died , according to the team ’s research , publishedtoday in Science Advances . Though it ’s not clear whether the animal was killed by the humans , the liquidation ’s localisation may have been chosen to capitalize on the mammoth herd that went there .
In Alaska , woolly mammoths ( Mammathus primigenius ) overlapped with human populations for at least a millennium . Humans definitely made function of the lap ; there is archaeological evidence that humans used gigantic ivory and bones , but there ’s less direct evidence of mammoth hunting . To well realise how the two coinage may have overlapped geographically — and thereby interact — the research team analyze DNA and isotope put away out in a mammoth tusk named Élmayųujey’eh . Audrey Rowe , a PhD student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks , led the study .
A mammoth tusk fragment.Photo:Wikimedia Commons
Much can be gleaned of a proboscidean ’s life sentence from its tusk , which like tree rings , unwrap detail of the animals ’ increment rate and lifespan . isotope in the tusk divulge aspect of the animate being ’ diet , and by proxy , their geographic movements over time . In 2022 , a team , which include some of the member of the recent team , looked at isotopes in a 13,000 - year - old mastodon tusk toreveal the brute ’s life , which was spent in the Great Lakes realm and ended when the beast was 34 , poke in the nerve by another mastodon .
Élmayųujey’eh was found alongside contemporaneous mammoth rest belonging to other individuals . The remains were found at the Swan Point archaeological site in Alaska ’s interior . research worker think the site was a seasonal shop for Ice Age humankind in the area .
deoxyribonucleic acid from the Swan Point ivory indicated the mammoth was close interrelate to the other mammoths found on the site . She did n’t move much betimes in aliveness , according to the Strontium isotope analysis , and was probably live in southeast Beringia . But when she was around 10 , the mammoth traveled 621 naut mi ( about 1,000 kilometers ) over a 2.5 - yr span . She spent the last three years of her life in inner Alaska , and died late summer or early autumn — coincident with the seasonal occupation of the Swan Point site .
Despite this , the researchers say there is no explicit evidence that the creature was kill by the humans . Any possible cut mark that may have been on the mammoth remains at the site were “ score out ” by rude unconscious process after the bones were left there , the squad stated .
Nevertheless , the collection of mammoth bones at the internet site is a reminder that the two species shared the neighborhood , if only for a time . The tusk itself is a testament to the amazing stories of lifeforms that died long before us — and indeed , the amazing science that throw those stories attainable .
More : scientist Find Mammoth Seemingly Butchered by human being on Arctic Island
MammothsMastodonWoolly mammoth
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