Researchers Confirmed Early Americans Survived by Hunting Earth's Largest Animals

At the end of the last Ice Age, 13,000 years ago, North America was not a frozen wasteland. Though it was cold, it was a dry, windy grassland with dense growths of flowering herbs and sedges. Herds of mammoths with shaggy skin and long curved tusks grazed the nutrient-rich plants, accompanied by ancient bison and mastodons. Ecologists have described the mammoth steppe as one of the most productive large-herbivore ecosystems in Earth's history. Predators such as dire wolves and American lions hunted calves or weakened adults. A healthy adult mammoth had few natural enemies. Their enormous size, long curved tusks, and social behavior made healthy adults extremely difficult to kill. When humans arrived near the end of the Ice Age, the large mammals faced a new predator who used intelligent planning, a cooperative team strategy, and advanced stone tools. Mammoths were the key factor in the survival of Early Americans.

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Who were the Early Americans?

The earliest people to enter the Americas were groups of hunter-gatherers who migrated across the continent during the late Ice Age. Archaeologists are using new technology to investigate the time of their arrival, the routes they used, and when they came. Many researchers believe that early Americans used the land bridge known as Beringia, which joined Siberia and Alaska. One of the earliest groups was known as the Clovis people. They lived in North America about 13,000 years ago and are best known for producing fluted stone spear points, known as Clovis points. Recent excavations at older archaeological sites show that humans were living in the Americas before the Clovis culture emerged. Sites such as Monte Verde, which dates to about 14,500 years ago (although this has recently been contested), and the fossilized footprints at White Sands National Park, which are 21,000–23,000 years old, indicate that humans reached the Americas before Clovis. 

A modern sculpture of a woolly mammoth in Oregon illustrates one of the giant Ice Age mammals that sustained many of North America's earliest hunter-gatherers. Mammoths provided meat, fat, hides, bone, and ivory, making them among the continent's most valuable prehistoric resources. Source: (Gary Halvorson/Oregon State Archives)

Mammoth on the Menu

A 2024 study published in Science Advancespresents evidence that the first Americans depended on hunting mammoths rather than on eating a varied diet of plants, fish, and small game. According to the study author, James Chatters, the study presents “stable isotope analyses of the only known Clovis individual, the 18-month-old Anzick child, to directly infer maternal protein diet. Stable isotope analysis examines the ratios of non-radioactive isotopes in samples to provide insights into their sources and processes. The researchers use the “you are what you eat” theory to understand the flow of energy through a food web, reconstruct past climate conditions, and investigate human and animal diets.

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Many early hunter-gatherers obtained much of their protein and calories from mammoths and other large mammals. A single successful hunt could feed an extended community for weeks, providing not only meat but also fat, hides, bones, and ivory that became essential tools for life in a harsh Ice Age world. The findings are reshaping the understanding of how people adapted to an unfamiliar continent and why the disappearance of North America's megafauna marked one of the greatest turning points in human history.

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Map of the location of dated Clovis sites. (Waters, M.R., Stafford, T.W. Jr., and Carlson, D. L. /Science Advances) 

Mammoths Were Worth the Risk

A new study just published by Ben Potter, of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks with James Chatters supports the earlier findings. It focused on people in Eastern Beringia - stretching from the Mackenzie River in Canada through Alaska and westward to the Bering Strait land bridge. 

The researchers estimate that from these three regions, at least 98 percent of these Early Paleondians’ diet came from the large mammals. That makes sense, according to the new paper, in part because large-bodied, fat-rich prey yields relatively more calories and nutrients than smaller animals.

Though mammoths were dangerous animals to hunt, the groups used extensive planning, cooperative efforts, and improved weapons to increase their chances. They might observe the herds to find the weaker animals. The researchers point out that arguments that early humans were not capable of killing giant mammals do not hold up to the evidence.

According to the Potter et al. paper, the tools used in hunting - such as Clovis points and Fishtail projectile points - were definitely capable of penetrating the hide of mammoths through the use of atlatls and spears, and the Paleoindians likely hunted in groups to increase their rate of success.

“Archaeological evidence for Early Paleoindian subsistence, technology and mobility patterns supports the contention that the first continent-wide adaptive strategies in Eastern Beringia, subglacial North America and South America were big game specialists, not dietary generalists,” the paper concludes.

Early Americans Continued Behavior Modifications and Adaptations for Survival

As mammoths and other large animals became extinct, early humans changed their diet to depend on smaller game. Fishing increased, as evidenced by the increased number of hooks and spears found in cave excavations. Farming of the “three sisters”-corn, beans, and squash–was common across the continent. Researchers were surprised by the soil preparation before planting. For example, the groups planted corn first, using fish or other animal parts as fertilizer. The beans grew on vines supported by the corn stalks, and the pumpkins or squash did well in the shade provided by the taller plants. The first Americans’ ability to thrive amid dramatic environmental change demonstrates that survival depended on ingenuity and cooperation.

By Ramsey Hardin 

Top Image: A museum reconstruction depicts Paleoindian hunters surrounding a Columbian mammoth during the Late Ice Age. Archaeological discoveries across North America suggest mammoths provided meat, fat, hides, ivory, and bone, making them among the most valuable resources for some of the continent's earliest hunter-gatherers. (José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro/CC BY-SA 4.0). 

References

Chatters, James C., Ben A. Potter, Stuart J. Fiedel, Juliet E. Morrow, Christopher N. Jass, and Matthew J. Wooller. "Mammoth Featured Heavily in Western Clovis Diet." Science Advances (2024). Available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr3814

Potter et al. (2026) — "Hemisphere-wide evidence of Early Paleoindian megaherbivore specialization." Science Advances 12(27), Available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aef9628

Radley, Dario. 2026. “Early Americans relied on mammoths and giant mammals as their main food source, study finds.” Archaeology Magazine. https://archaeologymag.com/2026/07/early-americans-were-mammoth-hunters/

Summerlin, Kristin 2024. “Study reveals mammoth as key food source for ancient Americans.” University of Alaska-Fairbanks. https://www.uaf.edu/news/study-reveals-mammoth-as-key-food-source-for-ancient-americans.php

University of Alaska News. 2024. “Study reveals mammoth as key food source for ancient Americans.” EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1066451

“UW, Other Researchers Find Early Americans' Primary Diet Was Mammoths, Other Large Mammals.” 2026. University of Wyoming. https://www.uwyo.edu/news/2026/07/uw-other-researchers-find-early-americans-primary-diet-was-mammoths-other-large-mammals.html