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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> A jumble of fossil mammoth bones being excavated from a fossil site in 
> southeastern Washington state. Mammoths, which looked like shaggy 
> elephants, were hunted by prehistoric humans who arrived in North America 
> about 11.4 thousand years ago, as shown by the close intermingling of 
> spearpoints with fossil mammal skeletons. However, they also went extinct 
> coincident with climate change in areas where significant human presence 
> has not been shown,

Mammal extinctions are a seductive subject for researchers who need to 
publish. Meteorites, volcanic eruptions, sun spots, ice flows, even a 
sudden tipping of Earth, have all had their fifteen minutes and more. In 
Annals of the Former World, John McPhee taught me a new one. When hot spots 
in the magma push up, not always causing the surface openings we call 
volcanoes, fumes seep through the crust and fill the air. These fumes are 
not clearly understood but may well be the undefined culprit for mysterious 
extinctions.