Academic Bun Fight: Were the Australian Megafauna Wiped Out By Humanity? Or Not?

Lack of chronological support for stepwise prehuman extinctions of Australian megafauna

Authors:

1. Barry W. Brook (a)
2. Corey J. A. Bradshaw (a)
3. Alan Cooper (a)
4. Christopher N. Johnson (b)
5. Trevor H. Worthy (c)
6. Michael Bird (d)
7. Richard Gillespie (e)
8. Richard G. Roberts (e)

Affiliations:

a. Environment Institute and School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5095, Australia;

b. School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia;

c. School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia;

d. School of Earth and Environmental Science and Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia; and

e. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Centre for Archaeological Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

Abstract:

The most enduring and high-profile scientific debate in Australian prehistory is that surrounding the loss of more than 50 species of endemic, large-bodied vertebrates (megafauna) and the timing of these extinctions (1). Wroe et al. (2) present a personal perspective on some of the available literature to reject the scenario of rapid, continent-wide losses, and downplay any role for human agency. They contend that different species of megafauna went extinct progressively during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, with many “disappearing” long before human hunters arrived, leaving climate change as the alternative explanation. However, these conclusions rely on a biased selection of data and disregard several underlying geochronological constraints.

And the reply.

Reply to Brook et al: No empirical evidence for human overkill of megafauna in Sahul

Authors:

1. Stephen Wroe (a,b)
2. Judith H. Field (a)
3. Michael Archer (a)
4. Donald K. Grayson (c)
5. Gilbert J. Price (d)
6. Julien Louys (d)
7. J. Tyler Faith (e)
8. Gregory E. Webb (d)
9. Iain Davidson (f)
10. Scott D. Mooney (a)

Affiliations:

a. School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia;

b. School of Engineering, University of Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia;

c. Department of Anthropology and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195;

d. School of Earth Sciences and

e. School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; and

f. School of Humanities, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia

Abstract:

We welcome comments by Brook et al. (1), supporters of human-driven models, on our review of the role of climate in Pleistocene faunal extinctions in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea) (2). In response, we begin on a point of agreement: the fossil fauna record on which our respective arguments are based is sparse, although our understanding of Pleistocene environmental conditions is improving (3⇓–5). However, we also flag a basic point of difference. Unlike Brook et al., who focus on the ∼50 extinct Australian species (an artificial distinction because Australia was part of the larger landmass Sahul) and the 50 ka since human arrival, we consider the bigger picture, and the 88 large taxa that disappeared from Sahul from ∼450 ka.