Same deal with the extinction of large beasts in North America. Better predators showed up and hunted them out.
I agree about the atlatl. I listened to a discussion among some modern big game hunters regarding ancient man and the use of the atlatl on large animals like the mammoth. The consensus was it would take many multiple hits on one animal to bring it down all the while dealing with the rest of the herd trying to protect the injured animal.(Assuming mammoths displayed the same type of behavior as modern African elephants)
Probably a combination of things led to their extinction including the loss of their food supply.
The same thing happened, already in historical times, to the giant moa birds of New Zealand.
Ah yes the moa. Flightless birds were pretty well on the short end once man showed up. Even if man couldn't kill off all the adults the eggs would have been easy pickings.
It doesn’t necessarily mean lots of hits for an immediate kill. Just enough to be incapacitating and cause eventual collapse, maybe days later. One good abdominal puncture will probably do. Some of mans advantages as a predatory animal are incredible endurance, attention span and ability to track, compared to most mammals.
And perhaps part of the mammoths problems were that they didn’t live in large herds, due to scarcity.
Don't think so. Pygmies and Bushmen kill large animals all the time.
Two main methods.
Weak bows with poison arrows.
Arrows or spears in the gut. Infection starts. Follow the animal around for a few days till it collapses. Not what we call sporting, but quite effective.
Here’s some video of pygmies killing elephants without firearms.
African and Asian civilizations have been using elephants as working animals for 4000 years or more. If you can trap and tame an elephant, you can certainly kill one.