Overkill Hypothesis

The abrupt extinction of the megafauna during the Pleistocene in North America dwindled the large animal population to about 70 percent (Martin). The cause of this massive extinction is unclear due to lack of evidence during this time, but there are many subjective beliefs that involve both ecological and environmental forces. An ecological force such as human hunters are one hypothesis that is believed to have caused the extinction of the megafauna. This hypothesis is known as the “overkill hypothesis.” (Cushman lecture 2/15/18) This hypothesis believes that the excessive practices of human hunters are what caused the large mammals of the North Americas to go extinct. An environmental force hypothesis that is also widely proposed is climate
The ecological and environmental factors are both mainly human causes. The greatest killer, disease, was utilized in the Europeans favor when they realized the indigenous people had no immunity to the new microbial diseases being introduced. In turn there is evidence that the Europeans would give the indigenous people infected blankets that were plagued with small pox, a disease that was no match to the natives and ultimately caused massive deaths among them. (The Great Inca Rebellion 2012) The Europeans also had an advantage with weaponry. They had steel swords and guns that an unequal match for the native weapons typically fashioned out of stone. Another weapon that was utilized was the cavalry of the Europeans. The indigenous people were no match on foot when they were charged with the horses of the cavalry, all in all the Europeans had a much greater advantage when it came to warfare, but they did lack in numbers compared to the indigenous people. Ecological imperialism, the argument that ecological causes were the most important factor in enabling domination, is responsible for the destruction of indigenous societies and was purely intentional for the sake of the European conquistador’s expansion into the new world. (Cushman, Ecological Imperialism