The relatively rapid disappearance of proboscideans from the Americas coincides with both the arrival of the first Americans and the end of the most recent ice age. Researchers have increasingly employed evidence from bulk stable and radiogenic isotopes in attempting to better understand proboscidean behavior and how climate change and/or human predation may have influenced their eventual extinction. Here, we apply this technique to Columbian mammoths recovered from the Colby Site, Wyoming, USA, which has been associated chronologically with both the beginning of the Clovis cultural period, ca. 13,000 cal BP, and the Younger Dryas cooling event, ca. 12,900 cal BP. Comparing bulk C, O, and Sr isotopic values from multiple locations on each of these mammoths’ molars suggests that these mammoths had a relatively small range (<250 km), consumed primarily C3 plants, and lived in a cooler local environment than present. Based on comparisons across individual mammoth isotope values and previously sampled Pleistocene proboscideans, isotopic data suggest that the Colby mammoth assemblage resulted from multiple hunting episodes, indicating that Clovis hunters may have repeatedly and intentionally used this place to harvest mammoths and other animals. These findings have significance for understanding the diversity of proboscidean behavior during a time of immense environmental change.
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