Elephant Bird Bones Show Humans Lived In Madagascar 6,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

An ancient and extinct bird's bone analysis proves that humans had lived in Madagascar more than 6,000 years ago than they had previously thought.

James Hansford et al. Of the London Zoo Association analyzed bones of extinct Madagascar elephant birds. An elephant creature like an island's native ostrich stood over 3 meters and weighed more than 350 kilos.

Researchers discovered that bone cuts and sags are consistent with human hunting and massacres. These markers also indicate that human hunters may knock down birds to the ground by hitting them with feet very intensely before a serious attack. Hansford said the break in the bone is not due to the natural erosion process.

Hansford told Newsweek, "When cutting a body or cutting a big knife to separate the ligaments and tendons, the cutter cuts the bone surface, leaving a clear pattern."

Researchers used radiocarbon dating methods to determine the age of bone. They extract collagen from the bone and analyze it with two accelerated mass spectrometric radio carbon measurement devices.

As a result, it became clear that big birds that could not fly about 10,000 years ago were killed. This means that he was in Madagascar 6000 years earlier than previously thought. Hansford and colleagues published their findings on Science Progress magazine on September 12th.

Prior to this new work, the oldest evidence of human beings and activities on the island was a batch of the tool 4000 years ago found in the incision 2500 years ago of a huge lemur bone and in the north. On the island

Researchers wrote in their study as follows. "Evidence of artificial death of direct out-dated bone transcends all other archaeological and genetic evidence in Madagascar and is changing the history of human colonization in Madagascar, understand." the study

This research also gains insight into the extinction of gigantic animals, especially on the island. Scientists suspect that climate change is the cause of the extinction of these creatures, and humans will never destroy them. The research provides evidence that humans have appeared on the island several centuries before the extinction of these huge animals.

Elephant bird bones studied by researchers were found in the Christmas river in 2009. This place is rich in huge animal relics.

Human beings are considered to be an impossible cause of these extinctions. Prior to this new work, the oldest evidence of human activity in Madagascar came from the cutting traces of 2,500 years on tools found in the huge lemur 's bones and the northern part of the island 2500 years ago. The discovery of massacre of the bone of the elephant dating back to 10,000 years ago 6000 years ago of the imagination suggests that humans may have played an active role in the extinction of Madagascar now. .

According to the latest research published today in Science Advances, humans lived in Madagascar in the early Holocene. The evidence of this claim comes from the slaughter and cuts found in the bones of elephant birds (Aepyornis maximus). The ruins of this extinct, unflying bird resemble ostriches and were found in ruins of the Christmas river in South Madagascar. During the Holocene, the area was an ecosystem of wetlands characterized by huge lemurs, hippos, tortoises, crocodiles and other animals.

Previous research on lemur bones and archaeological relics showed that humans first arrived in Madagascar between 2,400 to 4,000 years ago. However, this new study prove that the existence of humans in Madagascar dates back 10,500 years ago - the bones of these improved elephants are the earliest known evidence of human beings in the island. Dr. James Hansford, the lead author of the ZSL Institute for Zoology, says, "We already know that Madagascar's huge elephant, hippopotamus, giant turtle, and giant lemur were extinct 1000 years ago, although there are many theories, the extent of human involvement is not clear.