Thirteen-thousand years ago the first human culture to colonize all of North America, in this case from Pacific to Atlantic shores, was the Clovis culture of highly-proficient Siberian hunters. While they may not have been the first humans in America, the 1930s discovery of this “Clovisia the Beautiful” launched a century-long debate about their role in a remarkable series of extinctions – the loss of most of America’s African-like megafauna – coinciding with their arrival. Are Clovis and later Folsom cultures the American architects of the early stages of today’s Sixth Extinction?

Thank you to our sponsor Velvet Buck.

Subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon.

MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips

Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men"

Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube

Shop MeatEater Merch