The following is an interview with Prof. Vance Holliday, an archaeologist who spoke with us about the recent discovery of gomphotheres alongside human remains. Gomphotheres, a kind of relative to the elephants of today, were thought to be extinct before humans arrived in North America, but now it appears that humans were present alongside them and actually ate the huge creatures.

Can you explain exactly what was found to indicate that Clovis people ate gomphotheres?

Among the bone we found 4 stone tools that are spear points. The style of point is called Clovis; Clovis points have been found among the remains of other Ice Age remains in N America; mammoth, most famously. So finding hunting weapons is a key indicator. We found other stone tools and tool making debris among the bones. The bones also are in two piles; not the sort of thing you would see in a natural death situation. Humans almost certainly created the piles. We also found bits of burned bone and charcoal. We don’t have direct evidence of people cutting the bone (the bone is heavily weathered) but all together our interpretation is hunting followed by eating.

What are the similarities and differences between gomphotheres and present day elephants?

I am not a paleontologist, but Gomphotheres and mastodon were roughly the same size and both similar in size or a bit smaller than African elephant. The teeth were very different, which is how we can tell these various elephants, living and extinct, apart. My colleague Gary Haynes at U of Nevada-Reno helped with some of this info.

What would it have taken to kill a gomphothere and how much meat would one typically yield?

I think that just a few well-placed spear points in the lungs or the heart would do the trick; the problem is getting those shots made. They made have used the spears with Clovis tips as thrusting weapons.

The other question I cannot answer. I again asked Gary Haynes at UNR. He has worked with living elephant populations and has published widely on mammoth and mastodon. Coming up with a good number is difficult because we don’t know how thoroughly they harvested the meat. And our animals were at most 12 yrs old and likely half the size of an adult. If we estimate that the animal was 2000 kg (that is very rough and could be off) and depending on how much meat was harvested, each animal may have yielded 400 to 800 kg. Again, VERY rough estimate. But still a lot of chow!

Do you believe there could be a link between Clovis people killing gomphotheres and their extinction? Why?

There could be but I don’t think there is. There are just so few gomphothere kills sites across the Americas. There are only 12 to 14 mammoth kills in all of North America. That just seems like a very small number if killing was the cause of the extinction. There is also evidence that mammoth started dying off 500 to 1000 years before Clovis hunters appeared.

In your opinion, why haven’t there been more remains of gomphotheres found?

Another question for a paleontologist. But most people would, I think, argue that the lack of remains is telling us there were just not that many around. That goes for N America. There were more gomphos in South and Central America. Mammoth and Mastodon apparently shared N America, living in different habitats. Gomphothere occupied some of the same habitats farther south.

Do you expect to find more remains of gomphotheres and other animals that had previously been considered to be extinct before humans? Why?

I have no idea! We have this one so nothing will surprise me anymore. Having found these gomphos, I would expect that we or other might find additional ones in North America.