Dan Flores

The popular Native American writer, Vine Deloria Jr., was vitriolic in his condemnation of Martin, which I could tell mortified and baffled the paleobiologist. Between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago, the Saulutrian culture had similarly wiped out Europe's remaining Pleistocene creatures. Clovis and Folsom were not Indian stories, Martin insisted. They were big history human stories.

The popular Native American writer, Vine Deloria Jr., was vitriolic in his condemnation of Martin, which I could tell mortified and baffled the paleobiologist. Between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago, the Saulutrian culture had similarly wiped out Europe's remaining Pleistocene creatures. Clovis and Folsom were not Indian stories, Martin insisted. They were big history human stories.

Martin and I arranged to get together on his visit to the University of Montana where I taught. After two days of wide-ranging conversations, I began to think about Martin in the manner of a Stephen Hawking. When his body had slowed from polio, his vast energy had lit a turbocharger that accelerated his mind.

Martin and I arranged to get together on his visit to the University of Montana where I taught. After two days of wide-ranging conversations, I began to think about Martin in the manner of a Stephen Hawking. When his body had slowed from polio, his vast energy had lit a turbocharger that accelerated his mind.

Martin and I arranged to get together on his visit to the University of Montana where I taught. After two days of wide-ranging conversations, I began to think about Martin in the manner of a Stephen Hawking. When his body had slowed from polio, his vast energy had lit a turbocharger that accelerated his mind.

The crux of the Pleistocene story, Martin told me, was that North America was a continental island remote from the evolution of humans, and when we finally arrived in numbers in the form of the Clovisians, the well-known slaughter humans had made on island biologies all over the world came to America.

The crux of the Pleistocene story, Martin told me, was that North America was a continental island remote from the evolution of humans, and when we finally arrived in numbers in the form of the Clovisians, the well-known slaughter humans had made on island biologies all over the world came to America.

The crux of the Pleistocene story, Martin told me, was that North America was a continental island remote from the evolution of humans, and when we finally arrived in numbers in the form of the Clovisians, the well-known slaughter humans had made on island biologies all over the world came to America.

We were a brilliant new predator with sophisticated weapons, dogs, and fire, and baggage like rats. The predation we engaged in changed local ecology so substantially that animals evolved in our absence couldn't survive once we arrived. I realized Martin was giving me a command performance of his Planet of Doom theory, a modern version now buttressed with science, history, and details.

We were a brilliant new predator with sophisticated weapons, dogs, and fire, and baggage like rats. The predation we engaged in changed local ecology so substantially that animals evolved in our absence couldn't survive once we arrived. I realized Martin was giving me a command performance of his Planet of Doom theory, a modern version now buttressed with science, history, and details.

We were a brilliant new predator with sophisticated weapons, dogs, and fire, and baggage like rats. The predation we engaged in changed local ecology so substantially that animals evolved in our absence couldn't survive once we arrived. I realized Martin was giving me a command performance of his Planet of Doom theory, a modern version now buttressed with science, history, and details.

As Martin put it in his 2006 Twilight of the Mammoths, I argue that virtually all extinctions of wild animals in the last 50,000 years are anthropogenic. By the time the destruction was over, only a handful of America's biggest animals remained, and those were either European or Asian, like caribou or bison, that had prior experience with humans.

As Martin put it in his 2006 Twilight of the Mammoths, I argue that virtually all extinctions of wild animals in the last 50,000 years are anthropogenic. By the time the destruction was over, only a handful of America's biggest animals remained, and those were either European or Asian, like caribou or bison, that had prior experience with humans.

As Martin put it in his 2006 Twilight of the Mammoths, I argue that virtually all extinctions of wild animals in the last 50,000 years are anthropogenic. By the time the destruction was over, only a handful of America's biggest animals remained, and those were either European or Asian, like caribou or bison, that had prior experience with humans.

Or they were native ones like pronghorns that carried so little fat they offered little inducement for hunters. Otherwise, the Clovisians erased millions of years of evolution. In 2001, independently of Martin, an Australian paleobiologist at the Smithsonian, John Alroy, developed a computer model to test this American extinction story.

Or they were native ones like pronghorns that carried so little fat they offered little inducement for hunters. Otherwise, the Clovisians erased millions of years of evolution. In 2001, independently of Martin, an Australian paleobiologist at the Smithsonian, John Alroy, developed a computer model to test this American extinction story.

Or they were native ones like pronghorns that carried so little fat they offered little inducement for hunters. Otherwise, the Clovisians erased millions of years of evolution. In 2001, independently of Martin, an Australian paleobiologist at the Smithsonian, John Alroy, developed a computer model to test this American extinction story.

Alroy's computers modeled an absolutely classic ecological release. By 1500 years after the human arrival, excepting a few scattered remnants hunters had overlooked but were now too separated to exchange their genes and dying out from lack of genetic diversity, 75% of America's Pleistocene bestiary had been gutted.

Alroy's computers modeled an absolutely classic ecological release. By 1500 years after the human arrival, excepting a few scattered remnants hunters had overlooked but were now too separated to exchange their genes and dying out from lack of genetic diversity, 75% of America's Pleistocene bestiary had been gutted.

Alroy's computers modeled an absolutely classic ecological release. By 1500 years after the human arrival, excepting a few scattered remnants hunters had overlooked but were now too separated to exchange their genes and dying out from lack of genetic diversity, 75% of America's Pleistocene bestiary had been gutted.