Datasets associated with: Late Holocene spread of pastoralism coincides with endemic megafaunal extinction on Madagascar

Recently expanded estimates for when humans arrived on Madagascar (up to ~10,000 years ago) highlight questions about the causes of the island’s relatively late megafaunal extinctions (~2000-500 years ago). Introduced domesticated animals could have contributed to extinctions, but the arrival times and past diets of exotic animals are poorly known. To conduct the first explicit test of the potential for competition between introduced livestock and extinct endemic megafauna in southern and western Madagascar, we generated new radiocarbon and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the bone collagen of introduced ungulates (zebu cattle, ovicaprids, and bushpigs, n=66) and endemic megafauna (pygmy hippopotamuses, giant tortoises, and elephant birds, n=68) and combined these data with existing data from endemic megafauna (n=282, including giant lemurs). Radiocarbon dates confirm that introduced and endemic herbivores briefly overlapped chronologically in this region between 1000 and 80...近期更新的人类抵达马达加斯加（Madagascar）的年代估算结果（可追溯至约1万年前），引发了学界对该岛巨型动物群相对较晚灭绝事件（距今约2000至500年）成因的诸多疑问。外来驯化家畜可能曾推动了此次灭绝进程，但这类异域引入动物的抵达时间与史前食性仍鲜为人知。为首次明确检验马达加斯加南部与西部引入家畜与已灭绝特有巨型动物群之间的竞争潜力，我们从引入有蹄类动物（瘤牛（zebu cattle）、羊亚科动物（ovicaprids）与大林猪（bushpigs），共66例样本）以及特有巨型动物（倭河马（pygmy hippopotamuses）、巨龟（giant tortoises）与象鸟（elephant birds），共68例样本）的骨胶原蛋白（bone collagen）中获取了全新的放射性碳年代数据与稳定碳、氮同位素数据，并将这些数据与已公开的特有巨型动物相关数据（共282例样本，包含巨型狐猴（giant lemurs））进行整合。放射性碳年代数据证实，该区域内引入草食动物与特有草食动物曾在距今1000至80……的时间段内存在短暂的时间重叠。