Post by cjm on Dec 22, 2021 14:41:56 GMT
Humans, not climate, caused mega-herbivores extinction – Israeli study
“We believe that our model is relevant to human cultures everywhere,” said Barkai. “For the first time, we argue that the driving force behind the constant improvement in human technology is the continual decline in the size of game. Ultimately, it may well be that 10,000 years ago in the southern Levant, animals became too small or too rare to provide humans with sufficient food, and this could be related to the advent of agriculture.
“In addition, we confirmed the hypothesis that the extinction of large animals was caused by humans – who time and time again destroyed their own livelihood through over-hunting,” he remarked. “We may therefore conclude that humans have always ravaged their environment but were usually clever enough to find solutions for the problems they had created – from the bow and arrow to the agricultural revolution. The environment, however, always paid a devastating price.”
“In addition, we confirmed the hypothesis that the extinction of large animals was caused by humans – who time and time again destroyed their own livelihood through over-hunting,” he remarked. “We may therefore conclude that humans have always ravaged their environment but were usually clever enough to find solutions for the problems they had created – from the bow and arrow to the agricultural revolution. The environment, however, always paid a devastating price.”