Dear Katherine,
Well being in my 70's now, for me PUNK ERA refers to the old-time steam logging days, when everybody's life depended on the skill of a Whistle Punk who tooted signals between the donkey puncher and the choker setters, to get the logs safely pulled into the landing.
So here he is, an archetypal whistle punk from the steam logging days in British Columbia, do you think this fine fellow might be indeed reminiscing on your reptilian synapsida? (Who btw I read were around even before the dinosaurs...)