Avian Megafauna Extinctions

Avian Megafauna Extinctions

This project has contributed the most extensive dataset to-date on the interaction between humans and Madagascar’s extinct giant elephant birds. Through innovative applications of high-resolution imaging modalities, including electron microscopy, optical profilometry and computed tomography (conducted at Argonne National Laboratory), we are studying elephant bird eggs from archaeological sites to document human consumption and use of these eggs.

In the absence of kill sites, and given the rarity of elephant bird bones in faunal assemblages, archaeologists in Madagascar have struggled to adequately explain the birds’ extinction. Egg harvesting may have been the primary means by which people exploited elephant bird populations. This research investigates the intensity of egg harvesting, records evidence of eggshell working, and is refining the chronology of elephant bird extinction.

Pending the results of an eggshell dating project, the Velondriake area may present evidence for a lengthy co-existence of human communities and elephant birds. If this is the case, elephant birds are an example of a protracted extinction that stands in contrast to the rapid bird extinctions in other regions, such as Polynesia. Furthermore, the evidence of eggshell working and multigenerational use reveals the integration of elephant birds in the daily lives and practices of ancient Malagasy communities, broadening the lens through which we understand human-elephant bird interaction beyond a discourse of overkill and extinction. Through collaborations with colleagues at the University of Otago and University of Cambridge, these methods are also being applied to the study of moa eggshell from the site of Wairau Bar in New Zealand and to cassowary eggshell from late Pleistocene and Holocene cave sites in highland Papua New Guinea.