Dan Flores

Hearing at the Visitor Center in Canada that Indians carefully utilized every part of the animals... Yet knowing that in Texas, the cliff at Bonfire Shelter is scorched hundreds of feet high from the spontaneous combustion of an enormous mangled heap of unutilized bison, native hunters drove off the rim above. Those two sides beg a big question.

Hearing at the Visitor Center in Canada that Indians carefully utilized every part of the animals... Yet knowing that in Texas, the cliff at Bonfire Shelter is scorched hundreds of feet high from the spontaneous combustion of an enormous mangled heap of unutilized bison, native hunters drove off the rim above. Those two sides beg a big question.

Hearing at the Visitor Center in Canada that Indians carefully utilized every part of the animals... Yet knowing that in Texas, the cliff at Bonfire Shelter is scorched hundreds of feet high from the spontaneous combustion of an enormous mangled heap of unutilized bison, native hunters drove off the rim above. Those two sides beg a big question.

Putting aside whatever fantasies of the past we have, what kind of relationship did humans and animals fashion over the hundred centuries of Native America that followed the Pleistocene? And if it was different, more ecologically benign or balanced than what came before and what came after, then why?

Putting aside whatever fantasies of the past we have, what kind of relationship did humans and animals fashion over the hundred centuries of Native America that followed the Pleistocene? And if it was different, more ecologically benign or balanced than what came before and what came after, then why?

Putting aside whatever fantasies of the past we have, what kind of relationship did humans and animals fashion over the hundred centuries of Native America that followed the Pleistocene? And if it was different, more ecologically benign or balanced than what came before and what came after, then why?

Clovisia the Beautiful ended with the demise of elephants and the majority of America's big animals. People were here, but most of the original animals were not. The haunting stories of losses must have lasted because having so many charismatic creatures disappear seems to have shifted human behavior.

Clovisia the Beautiful ended with the demise of elephants and the majority of America's big animals. People were here, but most of the original animals were not. The haunting stories of losses must have lasted because having so many charismatic creatures disappear seems to have shifted human behavior.

Clovisia the Beautiful ended with the demise of elephants and the majority of America's big animals. People were here, but most of the original animals were not. The haunting stories of losses must have lasted because having so many charismatic creatures disappear seems to have shifted human behavior.

The 10,000 years that followed wasn't entirely extinction-free, but thousands of years later, arriving old-worlders described the wild new world that greeted them as a paradise of animals. The image of America as an animal eaten out of prehistory has shaped the country's sense of itself ever since. But was that actually the reality of Native America?

The 10,000 years that followed wasn't entirely extinction-free, but thousands of years later, arriving old-worlders described the wild new world that greeted them as a paradise of animals. The image of America as an animal eaten out of prehistory has shaped the country's sense of itself ever since. But was that actually the reality of Native America?

The 10,000 years that followed wasn't entirely extinction-free, but thousands of years later, arriving old-worlders described the wild new world that greeted them as a paradise of animals. The image of America as an animal eaten out of prehistory has shaped the country's sense of itself ever since. But was that actually the reality of Native America?

When 19th century ethnographers began to assemble a linguistic map of Native America, the conclusion anyone would draw is that over 10,000 years, there had been a tremendous movement of peoples around the continent. Athabascan speakers lived in interior Alaska and also way down in the southwest.

When 19th century ethnographers began to assemble a linguistic map of Native America, the conclusion anyone would draw is that over 10,000 years, there had been a tremendous movement of peoples around the continent. Athabascan speakers lived in interior Alaska and also way down in the southwest.

When 19th century ethnographers began to assemble a linguistic map of Native America, the conclusion anyone would draw is that over 10,000 years, there had been a tremendous movement of peoples around the continent. Athabascan speakers lived in interior Alaska and also way down in the southwest.

There were pools of Algonquin speakers in New England, in the Ohio Valley, and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. All this was in contrast to Australia, for example, where Aboriginal populations have stayed in place for 50,000 years. The American story implies significant experimentation with different locales and ways of life.

There were pools of Algonquin speakers in New England, in the Ohio Valley, and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. All this was in contrast to Australia, for example, where Aboriginal populations have stayed in place for 50,000 years. The American story implies significant experimentation with different locales and ways of life.

There were pools of Algonquin speakers in New England, in the Ohio Valley, and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. All this was in contrast to Australia, for example, where Aboriginal populations have stayed in place for 50,000 years. The American story implies significant experimentation with different locales and ways of life.

Some of those human migrations may have been related to the reshuffling of American nature that took place in the echoes of the Pleistocene extinctions. The biology of the continent was reinventing itself. The vegetation was changing. Without ground sloths to disperse their seeds, the range of Joshua trees now began to contract. And without mammoths to curb them, honey mesquite began to spread.

Some of those human migrations may have been related to the reshuffling of American nature that took place in the echoes of the Pleistocene extinctions. The biology of the continent was reinventing itself. The vegetation was changing. Without ground sloths to disperse their seeds, the range of Joshua trees now began to contract. And without mammoths to curb them, honey mesquite began to spread.