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Research Article

Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction

Chris S. M. Turney, Timothy F. Flannery, Richard G. Roberts, Craig Reid, L. Keith Fifield, Tom F. G. Higham, Zenobia Jacobs, Noel Kemp, Eric A. Colhoun, Robert M. Kalin, and Neil Ogle
  1. aGeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia;
  2. dDivision of Environmental and Life Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde NSW 2109, Australia;
  3. eQueen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia;
  4. fResearch School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia;
  5. gOxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom;
  6. hTasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia;
  7. iSchool of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle NSW 2308, Australia;
  8. jDavid Livingstone Center for Sustainability, Graham Hills Building, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XN, Scotland; and
  9. kEnvironmental Engineering Research Centre, School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Queen's University, Belfast BT9 5AG, United Kingdom

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PNAS August 26, 2008 105 (34) 12150-12153; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801360105
Chris S. M. Turney
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  • For correspondence: c.turney@exeter.ac.uk
Timothy F. Flannery
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Richard G. Roberts
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Craig Reid
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L. Keith Fifield
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Tom F. G. Higham
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Zenobia Jacobs
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Noel Kemp
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Eric A. Colhoun
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Robert M. Kalin
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Neil Ogle
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  1. Edited by Jared M. Diamond, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, and approved June 6, 2008

  2. ↵cC.S.M.T., T.F.F., and R.G.R. contributed equally to this work. (received for review February 11, 2008)

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Abstract

Establishing the cause of past extinctions is critical if we are to understand better what might trigger future occurrences and how to prevent them. The mechanisms of continental late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction, however, are still fiercely contested. Potential factors contributing to their demise include climatic change, human impact, or some combination. On the Australian mainland, 90% of the megafauna became extinct by ≈46 thousand years (ka) ago, soon after the first archaeological evidence for human colonization of the continent. Yet, on the neighboring island of Tasmania (which was connected to the mainland when sea levels were lower), megafaunal extinction appears to have taken place before the initial human arrival between 43 and 40 ka, which would seem to exonerate people as a contributing factor in the extirpation of the island megafauna. Age estimates for the last megafauna, however, are poorly constrained. Here, we show, by direct dating of fossil remains and their associated sediments, that some Tasmanian megafauna survived until at least 41 ka (i.e., after their extinction on the Australian mainland) and thus overlapped with humans. Furthermore, a vegetation record for Tasmania spanning the last 130 ka shows that no significant regional climatic or environmental change occurred between 43 and 37 ka, when a land bridge existed between Tasmania and the mainland. Our results are consistent with a model of human-induced extinction for the Tasmanian megafauna, most probably driven by hunting, and they reaffirm the value of islands adjacent to continental landmasses as tests of competing hypotheses for late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions.

  • Paleoclimate
  • Pleistocene
  • sea level change
  • island colonization
  • human hunting

Footnotes

  • bTo whom correspondence should be sent at the present address:
    School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources, Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom.
    E-mail: c.turney{at}exeter.ac.uk
  • Author contributions: C.S.M.T., T.F.F., and R.G.R. designed research; C.S.M.T., T.F.F., R.G.R., C.R., L.K.F., T.F.G.H., Z.J., N.K., E.A.C., R.M.K., and N.O. performed research; C.S.M.T., T.F.F., R.G.R., C.R., L.K.F., T.F.G.H., Z.J., N.K., E.A.C., R.M.K., and N.O. analyzed data; and C.S.M.T., T.F.F., and R.G.R. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • l

    ↵l In this paper, calibrated radiocarbon ages and those derived from alternative dating methods are reported as ka (thousands of calendar years ago). Uncalibrated radiocarbon ages are reported as BP (before present; relative to 1950 AD).

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0801360105/DCSupplemental.

  • © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction
Chris S. M. Turney, Timothy F. Flannery, Richard G. Roberts, Craig Reid, L. Keith Fifield, Tom F. G. Higham, Zenobia Jacobs, Noel Kemp, Eric A. Colhoun, Robert M. Kalin, Neil Ogle
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2008, 105 (34) 12150-12153; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0801360105

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Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction
Chris S. M. Turney, Timothy F. Flannery, Richard G. Roberts, Craig Reid, L. Keith Fifield, Tom F. G. Higham, Zenobia Jacobs, Noel Kemp, Eric A. Colhoun, Robert M. Kalin, Neil Ogle
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2008, 105 (34) 12150-12153; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0801360105
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