When Giant Sloths Were Dinner: The Human Appetite That Helped End the Ice Age Giants

The Last Feast of the Ice Age

Thirteen thousand years ago, the Pampas of South America were alive with giants. Towering ground sloths lumbered through grasslands, giant armadillos scuttled in armored bulk, and elephant-like Notiomastodon grazed in open woodlands. For the human groups newly settled in the region, these animals were more than spectacles. They were food.

Megafaunal species were preferred prey for humans in Southern South America. Credit: Luciano Prates et al. Megafaunal reconstructions in the figure were provided and authorized by Megafauna 3D Project (megafauna3d.org)

A new study published in Science Advances¹ suggests that these Ice Age giants were not occasional meals but dietary staples. Archaeologists examined animal remains from 20 archaeological sites across Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, all securely dated to before 11,600 years ago, when the last of these species disappeared. The pattern was striking: at 15 of the sites, bones of extinct megafauna made up more than 80 percent of butchered remains.

“The overwhelming presence of megafauna in these assemblages indicates deliberate targeting rather than opportunistic scavenging,” says Dr. Isabel Moreno, an archaeozoologist at the University of Buenos Aires. “These animals were central to survival strategies, not marginal.”