Paul S. Martin

Paul Schultz Martin ( born August 22, 1928 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, † 13 September 2010) was an American paleontologist.

Life

Paul S. Martin studied zoology at Cornell University and at the University of Michigan where he received his doctorate in 1956. Since 1957 he has worked at the University of Arizona, since 1968 as a professor; He retired in 1989.

He became famous for its developed in the 1960s theory that the Quaternary extinctions (which began about 50,000 years ago, global extinction of many large animal species) is due to the simultaneous global spread of people who had these animals exterminated by hunting. This " overkill " hypothesis, however, is still controversial.

Writings

• HE Wright ( eds.): Pleistocene extinctions; the search for a cause. 1967 ( pp. 75-120 therein his contribution Prehistoric overkill )
• (Ed.): Quaternary extinctions. A prehistoric revolution. 1984, 2nd edition 1989, ISBN 0-8165-1100-4.
• Twilight of the mammoths. Ice age extinctions and the rewilding of America. 2005, ISBN 0-520-23141-4.