We know that the extinction of megafauna, in South America at least, was around 10,000 years ago. This is at least 17,000 years after the arrival of the humans who modified the giant ground sloth ...

The study, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, indicates that humans may have inhabited South America as early as 27,000 years ago.

In the Pleistocene Epoch, South America was home to now-extinct animals, including the sabre-toothed cat Smilodon, the giant ground sloth Megatherium and the llama-like Macrauchenia ...

Thaís Pansani holding a giant sloth rib bone from central Brazil, thought to be burned by human fire about 13,000 to 15,000 years ago, in Smithsonian’s collection AP ...

This combination of illustrations provided by researchers in 2024 shows large animals which once roamed prehistoric North and South America. Top row from left, a glyptodon, a lestodon, and a horse.

Artifacts found in Santa Elina are roughly 27,000 years old — more than 10,000 years before scientists once thought that humans arrived in the Americas.

Artist’s depiction of a person carving an osteoderm from a giant sloth in Brazil about 25,000 to 27,000 years ago. (Júlia d’Oliveira / Associated Press) ...

Artifacts found in Santa Elina are roughly 27,000 years old — more than 10,000 years before scientists once thought that humans arrived in the Americas.

Artifacts found in Santa Elina are roughly 27,000 years old — more than 10,000 years before scientists once thought that humans arrived in the Americas.