Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin

by Donald Grayson

Overview

As the Ice Age came to an end, North America lost a stunning variety of animals. Mammoths, mastodon, llamas, ground-dwelling sloths the size of elephants, beavers the size of bears, pronghorn antelope the size of poodles, and carnivores to chase them—sabertooth cats, dire wolves, American lions and cheetahs; these and many more were gone by 10,000 years ago. Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats surveys all these animals, with a particular focus on the Great Basin. The book also explores the major attempts to explain the extinctions. Because some believe that they were due to the activities of human hunters, the author also reviews the archaeological evidence left by the earliest known human occupants of the Great Basin, showing that people were here at the same time and in the same places as many of the extinct animals. 
 
Were these animals abundant in the Great Basin? A detailed analysis of the distinctive assemblages of plants that now live in this region leads to a surprising, and perhaps controversial, conclusion about those abundances. 
 
If you are interested in Ice Age mammals or in the Ice Age archaeology of North America, if you are interested in the natural history of the Great Basin or the ways in which the plants of today’s landscapes might be used to understand the deeper past, you will be fascinated by this book.  

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607814696
Publisher:	University of Utah Press
Publication date:	05/20/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	317,778
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Donald K. Grayson is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Quaternary Research Center at the University of Washington. He is a recipient of the Nevada Medal for scientific achievement and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His publications include The Desert’s Past and The Great Basin: A Natural Prehistory.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xiii

List of Tables xix

Preface xxi

Acknowledgments xxiii

A Tiny Bit of Background xxv

Dating xxv

Biological Names xxv

1 A Sloth in Prison 1

2 The Great Basin Now and Then 16

The Great Basin Now 16

The Hydrographic Great Basin 17

The Floristic Great Basin 21

The Great Basin Then 26

The Ice Age 26

The Bering Land Bridge 27

Ice Age Lakes in the Great Basin 29

The Younger Dryas 32

Learning about the Late Ice Age Vegetation of the Great Basin 33

The Late Ice Age Vegetation of the Floristic Great Basin 36

The Late Ice Age Vegetation of the Mojave Desert 39

What Is the Late Ice Age? 40

3 A Zoologically Impoverished World 41

Extinction Gets Real 42

The American Context 45

South America 47

The Cingulates (Armored Xenarthrans) 47

The Pilosa (Sloths) 50

The Carnivores 50

The Rodents 50

The Perissodactyls (Odd-Toed Ungulates) 51

The Artiodactyls (Even-Toed Ungulates) 51

The Litopterns and Notoungulates 52

The Proboscidea (Elephants and Their Relatives) 53

The Primates 55

Counting South American Genera 55

North America 56

The Cingulates (Armored Xenarthrans) 56

The Pilosa (Sloths) 59

Jefferson's Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) 60

The Shasta Ground Sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis) 63

Harlan's Ground Sloth (Paramylodon harlani) 67

The Carnivores 69

The Short-Faced Skunk (Brachyprotoma obtusata) 69

The Giant Bear (Arctodus simus) 70

The Sabertooth Cat (Smilodon fatalis) 75

The Scimitar Cat (Homotherium serum) 79

The American Cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani) 80

The Rodents 85

The Lagomorphs (Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas) 86

The Aztlán Rabbit (Aztlanolagus agilis) 87

The Perissodactyls (Odd-Toed Ungulates) 88

The American Horse (Equus) 91

The Artiodactyls (Even-Toed Ungulates) 92

The Tayassuids (Peccaries) 93

The Flat-Headed Peccary (Platygonus compressus) 94

The Camelidae (Llamas, Guanacos, Alpacas, Vicugnas, and Camels) 99

The Large-Headed Llama (Hemiauchenia macrocephala) 100

Yesterday's Camel (Camelops hesternus) 102

The Cervidae (Deer, Moose, Elk, Caribou, and Their Allies) 104

The Mountain Deer (Navahoceros fricki) 107

The Antilocaprids (Pronghorn) 111

Shuler's Pronghorn (Tetrameryx shuleri) 113

The Diminutive Pronghorn (Capromeryx furcifer) 115

The Bovids (Cattle, Antelope, Sheep, and Goats) 119

The Shrub Ox (Euceratherium collinum) 120

The Helmeted Muskox (Bootherium bombifrons) 123

The Notoungulates

The Proboscideans (Gomphotheres, Mastodon, and Mammoths) 127

The American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) 128

The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) 136

Three Extinct Species 144

The American Lion (Panthera leo atrox) 145

The Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) 148

Harrington's Mountain Goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) 151

The Extinct Late Pleistocene Birds of the Great Basin 154

The Ciconiidae: Storks 155

The Phoenicopteridae: Flamingos 156

The Anatidae: Ducks, Geese, and Swans 156

The Cathartidae: New World Vultures 157

The Teratornithidae: Teratorns 158

The Accipitridae: Kites, Hawks, Eagles, and Old World Vultures 160

Why So Many Raptors? 161

How Many Genera of Mammals Were Lost toward the End of the American Pleistocene? 163

The Loss of the Large 164

4 Dating an Ass 166

How to Date an Extinction 167

Dating an Ass 173

Dating Last Appearances 174

The Last Appearance Dates: Birds 176

The Last Appearance Dates: Mammals 177

Last Appearance Dates in the Great Basin 179

5 A Stable of Ground Sloths 183

Fossil Lake, Oregon 185

A Brief History 185

An Archaeological Aside 192

The Fossil Birds of Fossil Lake 193

The Fossil Mammals of Fossil Lake 195

How Old Are the Fossil Lake Fossils? 198

Gypsum Cave, Nevada 200

Smith Creek Cave, Nevada 215

Mineral Hill Cave, Nevada 221

The Huntington Mammoth Site, Utah 226

Digging Paleontology 231

6 Extinct Mammals, Dangerous Plants, and the Early Peoples of the Great Basin 233

The Late Pleistocene Peoples of the Great Basin: Great Basin Fluted Points 233

The Late Pleistocene Peoples of the Great Basin: Great Basin Stemmed Points 239

Tracking Abundances 243

The Ghosts of Herb ivory: Grasses, Megafaunal Fruits, and the Meaning of Thorns 247

The Implications of Great Basin Grasses 247

Megafaunal Fruits 248

The Joshua Tree Debate 249

The Deeper Meaning of Thorns 255

The Creation of the Mechanical Defense Line 261

Conifers Up in Arms? 266

Subalpine Conifer History 269

The Implications of Pleistocene Lakes 270

Slim Pickins for Pleistocene Hunters 270

7 Clovis, Comets, and Climate: Explaining the Extinctions 273

Pleistocene Overkill and the Clovis Phenomenon 274

A Killer Comet? 280

Climate 287

Building Individual Species Histories 290

A Fond Farewell 293

Appendix 1 The Relationship between Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) and Calendar Years for 10,000 to 25,000 Radiocarbon Years Ago 295

Appendix 2 Common and Scientific Names of Plants Discussed in the Text 297

Appendix 3 Tall (> 6 Feet) Mechanically Defended Plants of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts 299

Appendix 4 Maximum Height and Armature of Sonoran and Mojave Desert Shrubs 301

Appendix 5 Maximum Height and Armature of Great Basin Shrubs 307

Notes 309

References 333

Index 399

Editorial Reviews

A remarkable and personal account. Grayson brings to life this enthralling menagerie of strange beasts—their relationships, distributions, habits, and chronology—while highlighting the fascinating history of how we have learned about them. Hugely informative and entertaining, a pleasure to read and think about.”
—David E. Rhode, research professor of archaeology, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada


"This is an excellent and easily read account of the Ice Age fauna of the Great Basin. It is one of the best at relating the large animals to the vegetation and physical environment of that time and the changes that followed the climate change at the end of the Ice Age. Its discussion of the extinction event, its timing and possible causes, should be read by all scientists working in that area.”
—Ernest Lundelius, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Texas at Austin

From the Publisher