Glacial period. How people survived the Ice Age

During this era, 35% of the land was under ice cover (compared to 10% today).

The last ice age was not just a natural disaster. It is impossible to understand the life of planet Earth without taking these periods into account. In the intervals between them (known as interglacial periods), life flourished, but then once again the ice moved inexorably and brought death, but life did not completely disappear. Each ice age was marked by the struggle for survival of different species, global climate changes occurred, and in the last of them a new species appeared, which (over time) became dominant on Earth: it was man.
Ice Ages
Ice ages are geological periods characterized by severe cooling of the Earth, during which vast areas of the earth's surface were covered with ice, high levels of humidity and, of course, exceptional cold were observed, as well as the lowest sea levels known to modern science. There is no generally accepted theory regarding the reasons for the onset of the Ice Age, but since the 17th century, a variety of explanations have been proposed. According to the current opinion, this phenomenon was not caused by one reason, but was the result of the influence of three factors.

Changes in the composition of the atmosphere - a different ratio of carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide) and methane - caused a sharp drop in temperature. It's like the opposite of what we now call global warming, but on a much larger scale.

The movements of the continents, caused by cyclic changes in the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and in addition the change in the angle of inclination of the planet’s axis relative to the Sun, also had an impact.

The earth received less solar heat, it cooled, which led to glaciation.
The earth has experienced several ice ages. The largest glaciation occurred 950-600 million years ago during the Precambrian era. Then in the Miocene era - 15 million years ago.

Traces of glaciation that can be observed at the present time represent the legacy of the last two million years and belong to the Quaternary period. This period is best studied by scientists and is divided into four periods: Günz, Mindel (Mindel), Ries (Rise) and Würm. The latter corresponds to the last ice age.

Last Ice Age
The Würm stage of glaciation began approximately 100,000 years ago, peaked after 18 thousand years and began to decline after 8 thousand years. During this time, the thickness of the ice reached 350-400 km and covered a third of the land above sea level, in other words, three times the area than now. Based on the amount of ice that currently covers the planet, we can get some idea of ​​the extent of glaciation during that period: today, glaciers occupy 14.8 million km2, or about 10% of the earth's surface, and during the Ice Age they covered an area of ​​44 .4 million km2, which is 30% of the Earth's surface. According to assumptions, in northern Canada, ice covered an area of ​​13.3 million km2, while now there is 147.25 km2 under ice. The same difference is noted in Scandinavia: 6.7 million km2 in that period compared to 3,910 km2 today.

The Ice Age occurred simultaneously in both hemispheres, although in the North the ice spread over larger areas. In Europe, the glacier covered most of the British Isles, northern Germany and Poland, and in North America, where the Würm glaciation is called the “Wisconsin Ice Age,” a layer of ice that descended from the North Pole covered all of Canada and spread south of the Great Lakes. Like the lakes in Patagonia and the Alps, they were formed on the site of depressions left after the melting of the ice mass.

The sea level dropped by almost 120 m, as a result of which large areas were exposed that are currently covered with sea water. The significance of this fact is enormous, since large-scale migrations of humans and animals became possible: hominids were able to make the transition from Siberia to Alaska and move from continental Europe to England. It is quite possible that during interglacial periods, the two largest ice masses on Earth - Antarctica and Greenland - have undergone slight changes throughout history.

At the peak of glaciation, the average temperature drop varied significantly depending on the area: 100 °C in Alaska, 60 °C in England, 20 °C in the tropics and remained virtually unchanged at the equator. Studies of the last glaciations in North America and Europe, which occurred during the Pleistocene era, gave similar results in this geological area within the last two (approximately) million years.

The last 100,000 years are of particular importance to understanding human evolution. Ice ages became a severe test for the inhabitants of the Earth. After the end of the next glaciation, they again had to adapt and learn to survive. When the climate became warmer, sea levels rose, new forests and plants appeared, and the land rose, freed from the pressure of the ice shell.

Hominids had the most natural resources to adapt to changing conditions. They were able to move to areas with the greatest amount of food resources, where the slow process of their evolution began.

Ecology

Ice ages, which took place more than once on our planet, have always been covered in a lot of mysteries. We know that they shrouded entire continents in cold, turning them into sparsely inhabited tundra.

It is also known about 11 such periods, and all of them took place with regular constancy. However, there is still a lot we don't know about them. We invite you to get acquainted with the most interesting facts about the ice ages of our past.

Giant animals

By the time the last Ice Age arrived, evolution had already mammals appeared. Animals that could survive in harsh climatic conditions were quite large, their bodies were covered with a thick layer of fur.

Scientists named these creatures "megafauna", which was able to survive in low temperatures in areas covered with ice, such as in the area of ​​modern Tibet. Smaller animals couldn't adapt to new conditions of glaciation and died.

Herbivorous representatives of megafauna learned to find food for themselves even under layers of ice and were able to adapt to the environment in different ways: for example, rhinoceroses ice age had spade-shaped horns, with the help of which they dug out snow drifts.

Predatory animals, e.g. saber-toothed cats, giant short-faced bears and dire wolves, survived well in new conditions. Although their prey could sometimes fight back due to their large size, it was in abundance.

Ice Age people

Despite the fact that modern man Homo sapiens could not boast of large size and wool at that time, he was able to survive in the cold tundra of the Ice Ages for many thousands of years.

Living conditions were harsh, but people were resourceful. For example, 15 thousand years ago they lived in tribes that hunted and gathered, built original dwellings from mammoth bones, and sewed warm clothes from animal skins. When food was abundant, they stocked up in the permafrost - natural freezer.

Mainly, tools such as stone knives and arrows were used for hunting. To catch and kill large animals of the Ice Age, it was necessary to use special traps. When an animal fell into such traps, a group of people attacked it and beat it to death.

Little Ice Age

Between major ice ages there were sometimes small periods. This is not to say that they were destructive, but they also caused hunger, illness due to crop failure and other problems.

The most recent of the Little Ice Ages began around 12th-14th centuries. The most difficult time can be called the period from 1500 to 1850. At this time, quite low temperatures were observed in the Northern Hemisphere.

In Europe, it was common for the seas to freeze, and in mountainous areas, such as what is now Switzerland, the snow didn't melt even in summer. Cold weather affected every aspect of life and culture. Probably, the Middle Ages remained in history as "Time of Troubles" also because the planet was dominated by the Little Ice Age.

Warming periods

Some ice ages actually turned out to be quite warm. Despite the fact that the surface of the earth was shrouded in ice, the weather was relatively warm.

Sometimes a sufficiently large amount of carbon dioxide accumulated in the planet’s atmosphere, which causes the appearance of greenhouse effect, when heat is trapped in the atmosphere and warms the planet. At the same time, ice continues to form and reflect the sun's rays back into space.

According to experts, this phenomenon led to the formation giant desert with ice on the surface, but rather warm weather.

When will the next ice age occur?

The theory that ice ages occur on our planet at regular intervals goes against theories about global warming. There is no doubt that today we are seeing widespread climate warming, which could help prevent the next ice age.

Human activities lead to the release of carbon dioxide, which is largely responsible for the problem of global warming. However, this gas has another strange by-effect. According to researchers from University of Cambridge, the release of CO2 could stop the next ice age.

According to our planet's planetary cycle, the next ice age is due to arrive soon, but it can only occur if carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will be relatively low. However, CO2 levels are currently so high that an ice age is out of the question any time soon.

Even if people suddenly stop emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (which is unlikely), the existing amount will be enough to prevent the onset of the Ice Age for at least another thousand years.

Ice Age Plants

Life was easiest during the Ice Age predators: They could always find food for themselves. But what did herbivores actually eat?

It turns out that there was enough food for these animals too. During ice ages on the planet a lot of plants grew that could survive in harsh conditions. The steppe area was covered with bushes and grass, which mammoths and other herbivores fed on.

A great variety of larger plants could also be found: for example, they grew in abundance spruce and pine. Found in warmer areas birch and willow. That is, the climate, by and large, in many modern southern regions resembled the one found in Siberia today.

However, the plants of the Ice Age were somewhat different from modern ones. Of course, when cold weather sets in many plants have become extinct. If the plant was not able to adapt to the new climate, it had two options: either move to more southern zones or die.

For example, what is now the state of Victoria in southern Australia had the richest diversity of plant species on the planet until the Ice Age, which most of the species died.

Cause of the Ice Age in the Himalayas?

It turns out that the Himalayas, the highest mountain system on our planet, directly related with the onset of the Ice Age.

40-50 million years ago The land masses where China and India are located today collided, forming the highest mountains. As a result of the collision, huge volumes of “fresh” rocks from the bowels of the Earth were exposed.

These rocks eroded, and as a result of chemical reactions, carbon dioxide began to be displaced from the atmosphere. The climate on the planet began to become colder and the ice age began.

Snowball Earth

During various ice ages, our planet was mostly shrouded in ice and snow. only partially. Even during the most severe ice age, ice covered only one third of the globe.

However, there is a hypothesis that during certain periods the Earth was still completely covered with snow, making her look like a giant snowball. Life still managed to survive thanks to rare islands with relatively little ice and enough light for plants to photosynthesize.

According to this theory, our planet turned into a snowball at least once, more precisely 716 million years ago.

Garden of Eden

Some scientists are convinced that Garden of Eden described in the Bible actually existed. It is believed that he was in Africa, and it was thanks to him that our distant ancestors were able to survive during the Ice Age.

Approximately 200 thousand years ago a severe ice age began, which put an end to many forms of life. Fortunately, a small group of people were able to survive the period of severe cold. These people moved to the area where South Africa is located today.

Despite the fact that almost the entire planet was covered with ice, this area remained ice-free. A large number of living beings lived here. The soils of this area were rich in nutrients, so there was abundance of plants. Caves created by nature were used by people and animals as shelters. For living beings it was a real paradise.

According to some scientists, there lived in the "Garden of Eden" no more than a hundred people, which is why humans do not have as much genetic diversity as most other species. However, this theory has not found scientific evidence.

Periods of climate cooling, accompanied by the formation of continental ice sheets, are recurring events in the history of the Earth. Intervals of cold climate during which extensive continental ice sheets and sediments lasting hundreds of millions of years are formed are called glacial eras; in glacial eras stand out ice ages lasting tens of millions of years, which, in turn, consist of ice ages - glaciations(glacials), alternating with interglacials(interglacials).

The following glacial eras are distinguished in the history of the Earth:

• Early Proterozoic - 2.5-2 billion years ago
• Late Proterozoic - 900-630 million years ago (see Cryogeny)
• Paleozoic - 460-230 million years ago
• Cenozoic - 65 million years ago - present

Cenozoic Ice Age

The Cenozoic Ice Age (65 million years ago - present) is a recently (in geological scale) glacial era that began.

Chronology of Cenozoic glaciations

Shackleton age of 18 O isotope stages is calculated from the presence of V28-238 in the Vema core at a depth of 1200 cm at the Matuyama/Brunhes paleomagnetic boundary (700,000 years ago). Since the age of the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary is now estimated at 730,000 years, Shackleton's dates are recalculated according to the depths of the corresponding stages. (Disadvantages - cold stages, pros - warm interstages).

Paleozoic Ice Age (460-230 million years ago)

Late Ordovician-Early Silurian Ice Age (460-420 million years ago)

Glacial deposits of this time are distributed in Africa, South America, eastern North America and Western Europe.

Peak Glaciation is characterized by the formation of an extensive ice sheet across much of northern (including Arabia) and western Africa, with the Saharan ice sheet estimated to be up to 3 km thick.

Late Devonian Ice Age (370-355 million years ago)

Glacial deposits of the Late Devonian Ice Age were found in Brazil, and similar moraine deposits were found in Africa (Niger). The glacial region extended from the modern mouth of the Amazon to the east coast of Brazil.

Carboniferous-Permian Ice Age (350-230 million years ago)

Late Proterozoic glacial era (900-630 million years ago)

In the stratigraphy of the late Proterozoic, the Lapland glacial horizon (670-630 million years ago) is distinguished, found in Europe, Asia, West Africa, Greenland and Australia. Paleoclimatic reconstruction of the Late Proterozoic Ice Age in general and the Lapland period in particular is complicated by the lack of data on the drift, shape and position of the continents at this time, however, taking into account the location of moraine deposits of Greenland, Scotland and Normandy, it is assumed that the European and African ice sheets of this period at times merged into a single shield.

see also

Write a review about the article "Ice Age"

Notes

Literature

• Silver L. R. Ancient glaciation and life. - M.: Nauka, 1980. - 128 p. - (Man and the environment). - 100,000 copies.
• Winters of our planet: Earth under the ice / Authors: B. John, E. Derbyshire, G. Young, R. Fairbridge, J. Andrews; Ed. B. John; Per. from English Doctor of Geography Sciences L. R. Serebryanny. - M.: Mir, 1982. - 336 p. - 50,000 copies.
• Global changes in the natural environment / Ed. N. S. Kasimova. - M.: Scientific world, 2000.
• Changes in climate and landscapes over the last 65 million years (Cenozoic: from Paleocene to Holocene) / Ed. A. A. Velichko. - M.: GEOS, 1999.
• Koronovsky N.V., Khain V.E., Yasamanov N.A. Historical geology. - M.: Academy, 2006.

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Ice Age

From the time of this news until the end of the campaign, all of Kutuzov’s activities consisted only in using power, cunning, and requests to keep his troops from useless offensives, maneuvers and clashes with the dying enemy. Dokhturov goes to Maloyaroslavets, but Kutuzov hesitates with the entire army and gives orders to cleanse Kaluga, retreat beyond which seems very possible to him.
Kutuzov retreats everywhere, but the enemy, without waiting for his retreat, runs back in the opposite direction.
Historians of Napoleon describe to us his skillful maneuver at Tarutino and Maloyaroslavets and make assumptions about what would have happened if Napoleon had managed to penetrate the rich midday provinces.
But without saying that nothing prevented Napoleon from going to these midday provinces (since the Russian army gave him the way), historians forget that Napoleon’s army could not be saved by anything, because it already carried in itself the inevitable conditions death. Why is this army, which found abundant food in Moscow and could not hold it, but trampled it under its feet, this army, which, having come to Smolensk, did not sort out the food, but plundered it, why could this army recover in the Kaluga province, inhabited by those the same Russians as in Moscow, and with the same property of fire to burn what they light?
The army could not recover anywhere. Since the Battle of Borodino and the sack of Moscow, it already carried within itself the chemical conditions of decomposition.
The people of this former army fled with their leaders without knowing where, wanting (Napoleon and each soldier) only one thing: to personally extricate themselves as soon as possible from that hopeless situation, which, although unclear, they were all aware of.
That is why, at the council in Maloyaroslavets, when, pretending that they, the generals, were conferring, presenting different opinions, the last opinion of the simple-minded soldier Mouton, who said what everyone thought, that it was only necessary to leave as soon as possible, closed all their mouths, and no one , even Napoleon, could not say anything against this universally recognized truth.
But although everyone knew that they had to leave, there was still the shame of knowing that they had to run. And an external push was needed that would overcome this shame. And this push came at the right time. This was what the French called le Hourra de l'Empereur [imperial cheer].
The next day after the council, Napoleon, early in the morning, pretending that he wanted to inspect the troops and the field of the past and future battle, with a retinue of marshals and a convoy, rode along the middle of the line of troops. The Cossacks, snooping around the prey, came across the emperor himself and almost caught him. If the Cossacks did not catch Napoleon this time, then what saved him was the same thing that was destroying the French: the prey that the Cossacks rushed to, both in Tarutino and here, abandoning people. They, not paying attention to Napoleon, rushed to the prey, and Napoleon managed to escape.
When les enfants du Don [the sons of the Don] could catch the emperor himself in the middle of his army, it was clear that there was nothing more to do but to flee as quickly as possible along the nearest familiar road. Napoleon, with his forty-year-old belly, no longer feeling his former agility and courage, understood this hint. And under the influence of the fear that he gained from the Cossacks, he immediately agreed with Mouton and gave, as historians say, the order to retreat back to the Smolensk road.
The fact that Napoleon agreed with Mouton and that the troops went back does not prove that he ordered this, but that the forces that acted on the entire army, in the sense of directing it along the Mozhaisk road, simultaneously acted on Napoleon.

When a person is in motion, he always comes up with a goal for this movement. In order to walk a thousand miles, a person needs to think that there is something good beyond these thousand miles. You need an idea of ​​the promised land in order to have the strength to move.
The promised land during the French advance was Moscow; during the retreat it was the homeland. But the homeland was too far away, and for a person walking a thousand miles, he certainly needs to say to himself, forgetting about the final goal: “Today I will come forty miles to a place of rest and lodging for the night,” and on the first journey this place of rest obscures the final goal and concentrates on yourself all the desires and hopes. Those aspirations that are expressed in an individual always increase in a crowd.
For the French, who went back along the old Smolensk road, the final goal of their homeland was too distant, and the nearest goal, the one to which all desires and hopes strove, in enormous proportions intensifying in the crowd, was Smolensk. Not because people knew that there was a lot of provisions and fresh troops in Smolensk, not because they were told this (on the contrary, the highest ranks of the army and Napoleon himself knew that there was little food there), but because this alone could give them the strength to move and endure real hardships. They, both those who knew and those who did not know, equally deceiving themselves as to the promised land, strove for Smolensk.
Having reached the high road, the French ran with amazing energy and unheard-of speed towards their imaginary goal. In addition to this reason of common desire, which united the crowds of French into one whole and gave them some energy, there was another reason that bound them. The reason was their number. Their huge mass itself, as in the physical law of attraction, attracted individual atoms of people. They moved with their hundred-thousand-strong mass as an entire state.
Each of them wanted only one thing - to be captured, to get rid of all horrors and misfortunes. But, on the one hand, the strength of the common desire for the goal of Smolensk carried each one in the same direction; on the other hand, it was impossible for the corps to surrender to the company as captivity, and, despite the fact that the French took every opportunity to get rid of each other and, at the slightest decent pretext, to surrender themselves into captivity, these pretexts did not always happen. Their very number and close, fast movement deprived them of this opportunity and made it not only difficult, but impossible for the Russians to stop this movement, towards which all the energy of the mass of the French was directed. Mechanical tearing of the body could not accelerate the decomposition process beyond a certain limit.
A lump of snow cannot be melted instantly. There is a known time limit before which no amount of heat can melt the snow. On the contrary, the more heat there is, the stronger the remaining snow becomes.
None of the Russian military leaders, except Kutuzov, understood this. When the direction of flight of the French army along the Smolensk road was determined, then what Konovnitsyn foresaw on the night of October 11 began to come true. All the highest ranks of the army wanted to distinguish themselves, cut off, intercept, capture, overthrow the French, and everyone demanded an offensive.
Kutuzov alone used all his strength (these forces are very small for each commander in chief) to counteract the offensive.
He could not tell them what we are saying now: why the battle, and blocking the road, and the loss of his people, and the inhuman finishing off of the unfortunate? Why all this, when one third of this army melted away from Moscow to Vyazma without a battle? But he told them, deducing from his old wisdom something that they could understand - he told them about the golden bridge, and they laughed at him, slandered him, and tore him, and threw him, and swaggered over the killed beast.
At Vyazma, Ermolov, Miloradovich, Platov and others, being close to the French, could not resist the desire to cut off and overturn two French corps. To Kutuzov, notifying him of their intention, they sent in an envelope, instead of a report, a sheet of white paper.
And no matter how hard Kutuzov tried to hold back the troops, our troops attacked, trying to block the road. The infantry regiments are said to have charged with music and drums and killed and lost thousands of men.
But cut off - no one was cut off or knocked over. And the French army, pulled together tighter from danger, continued, gradually melting, its same disastrous path to Smolensk.

The Battle of Borodino, with the subsequent occupation of Moscow and the flight of the French, without new battles, is one of the most instructive phenomena in history.
All historians agree that the external activities of states and peoples, in their clashes with each other, are expressed by wars; that directly, as a result of greater or lesser military successes, the political power of states and peoples increases or decreases.
No matter how strange the historical descriptions are of how some king or emperor, having quarreled with another emperor or king, gathered an army, fought with the enemy army, won a victory, killed three, five, ten thousand people and, as a result, conquered the state and an entire people of several millions; no matter how incomprehensible it may be why the defeat of one army, one hundredth of all the forces of the people, forced the people to submit, all the facts of history (as far as we know it) confirm the justice of the fact that greater or lesser successes of the army of one people against the army of another people are the reasons or, according to at least significant signs of an increase or decrease in the strength of nations. The army was victorious, and the rights of the victorious people immediately increased to the detriment of the vanquished. The army suffered defeat, and immediately, according to the degree of defeat, the people are deprived of their rights, and when their army is completely defeated, they are completely subjugated.
This has been the case (according to history) from ancient times to the present day. All Napoleon's wars serve as confirmation of this rule. According to the degree of defeat of the Austrian troops, Austria is deprived of its rights, and the rights and strength of France increase. The French victory at Jena and Auerstätt destroys the independent existence of Prussia.
But suddenly in 1812 the French won a victory near Moscow, Moscow was taken, and after that, without new battles, not Russia ceased to exist, but the army of six hundred thousand ceased to exist, then Napoleonic France. It is impossible to stretch the facts to the rules of history, to say that the battlefield in Borodino remained with the Russians, that after Moscow there were battles that destroyed Napoleon’s army.
After the Borodino victory of the French, there was not a single general battle, but not a single significant one, and the French army ceased to exist. What does it mean? If this were an example from the history of China, we could say that this phenomenon is not historical (a loophole for historians when something does not fit their standards); if the matter concerned a short-term conflict, in which small numbers of troops were involved, we could accept this phenomenon as an exception; but this event took place before the eyes of our fathers, for whom the issue of life and death of the fatherland was being decided, and this war was the greatest of all known wars...

The last ice age ended 12,000 years ago. During the most severe period, glaciation threatened man with extinction. However, after the glacier disappeared, he not only survived, but also created a civilization.

Glaciers in the history of the Earth

The last glacial era in the history of the Earth is the Cenozoic. It began 65 million years ago and continues to this day. Modern man is lucky: he lives in an interglacial period, one of the warmest periods in the life of the planet. The most severe glacial era - the Late Proterozoic - is far behind.

Despite global warming, scientists predict the onset of a new ice age. And if the real one will come only after millennia, then the Little Ice Age, which will reduce annual temperatures by 2-3 degrees, may come quite soon.

The glacier became a real test for man, forcing him to invent means for his survival.

Last Ice Age

The Würm or Vistula glaciation began approximately 110,000 years ago and ended in the tenth millennium BC. The peak of cold weather occurred 26-20 thousand years ago, the final stage of the Stone Age, when the glacier was at its largest.

Little Ice Ages

Even after the glaciers melted, history has known periods of noticeable cooling and warming. Or, in another way - climate pessimums And optimums. Pessimums are sometimes called Little Ice Ages. In the XIV-XIX centuries, for example, the Little Ice Age began, and during the Great Migration of Nations there was an early medieval pessimum.

Hunting and meat food

There is an opinion according to which the human ancestor was more of a scavenger, since he could not spontaneously occupy a higher ecological niche. And all known tools were used to cut up the remains of animals that were taken from predators. However, the question of when and why people began to hunt is still a matter of debate.

In any case, thanks to hunting and meat food, ancient man received a large supply of energy, which allowed him to better endure the cold. The skins of killed animals were used as clothing, shoes and walls of the home, which increased the chances of survival in the harsh climate.

Upright walking

Upright walking appeared millions of years ago, and its role was much more important than in the life of a modern office worker. Having freed his hands, a person could engage in intensive housing construction, clothing production, processing of tools, production and conservation of fire. The upright ancestors moved freely in open areas, and their life no longer depended on collecting the fruits of tropical trees. Already millions of years ago, they moved freely over long distances and obtained food in river drains.

Upright walking played an insidious role, but it still became more of an advantage. Yes, man himself came to cold regions and adapted to life in them, but at the same time he could find both artificial and natural shelters from the glacier.

Fire

Fire in the life of ancient man was initially an unpleasant surprise, not a blessing. Despite this, the human ancestor first learned to “extinguish” it, and only later use it for his own purposes. Traces of the use of fire are found in sites that are 1.5 million years old. This made it possible to improve nutrition by preparing protein foods, as well as to remain active at night. This further increased the time to create survival conditions.

Climate

The Cenozoic Ice Age was not a continuous glaciation. Every 40 thousand years, the ancestors of people had the right to a “respite” - temporary thaws. At this time, the glacier was retreating and the climate became milder. During periods of harsh climate, natural shelters were caves or regions rich in flora and fauna. For example, the south of France and the Iberian Peninsula were home to many early cultures.

The Persian Gulf 20,000 years ago was a river valley rich in forests and grassy vegetation, a truly “antediluvian” landscape. Wide rivers flowed here, one and a half times larger in size than the Tigris and Euphrates. The Sahara in certain periods became a wet savannah. The last time this happened was 9,000 years ago. This can be confirmed by rock paintings that depict an abundance of animals.

Fauna

Huge glacial mammals, such as bison, woolly rhinoceros and mammoth, became an important and unique source of food for ancient people. Hunting such large animals required a lot of coordination and brought people together noticeably. The effectiveness of “teamwork” has proven itself more than once in the construction of parking lots and the manufacture of clothing. Deer and wild horses enjoyed no less “honor” among ancient people.

Language and communication

Language was perhaps the main life hack of ancient man. It was thanks to speech that important technologies for processing tools, making and maintaining fire, as well as various human adaptations for everyday survival were preserved and passed on from generation to generation. Perhaps the details of hunting large animals and migration directions were discussed in Paleolithic language.

Allörd warming

Scientists are still arguing whether the extinction of mammoths and other glacial animals was the work of man or caused by natural causes - the Allerd warming and the disappearance of food plants. As a result of the extermination of a large number of animal species, people in harsh conditions faced death from lack of food. There are known cases of the death of entire cultures simultaneously with the extinction of mammoths (for example, the Clovis culture in North America). However, warming became an important factor in the migration of people to regions whose climate became suitable for the emergence of agriculture.

The Little Ice Age is divided into three stages.

First phase (conventionally XIV-XV centuries)

Researchers [ which?] it is believed that the onset of the Little Ice Age was associated with a slowdown in the Gulf Stream around 1300. In the 1310s, Western Europe, judging by the chronicles, experienced a real environmental disaster. After the traditionally warm summer of 1311, four gloomy and rainy summers followed in 1315. Heavy rains and unusually harsh winters led to the loss of several crops and the freezing of orchards in England, Scotland, northern France and Germany. Viticulture and wine production ceased in Scotland and northern Germany. Winter frosts began to affect even northern Italy. F. Petrarch and G. Boccaccio recorded that in the 14th century. snow often fell in Italy.

A direct consequence of the first phase of the MLP was the massive famine of the first half of the 14th century - known in European chronicles as "The Great Hunger". Indirect - the crisis of the feudal economy, the resumption of corvée and major peasant uprisings in Western Europe. In the Russian lands, the first phase of the MLP made itself felt in the form of a series of “rainy years” in the 14th century.

Medieval legends claim that it was at this time that the mythical islands - “Island of Maidens” and “Island of Seven Cities” - perished from storms in the Atlantic.

Relative warming began only in the 1440s, and it immediately led to the rise of agriculture. However, the temperatures of the previous climatic optimum were not restored. For Western and Central Europe, snowy winters became common, and the period of “golden autumn” began in September (see the Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry - one of the masterpieces of book miniatures of the late Middle Ages).

Third phase (conditionally XVII - early XIX century)

The third phase became the coldest period of the MLP. The reduced activity of the Gulf Stream coincided with the lowest activity after the 5th century. BC e. level of solar activity (Maunder minimum). After the relatively warm 16th century, the average annual temperature in Europe dropped sharply. Greenland - the “Green Land” - was covered with glaciers, and Viking settlements disappeared from the island. Even the southern seas froze. We went sledding along the Thames and Danube. The Moscow River has been a reliable platform for fairs for six months. Global temperatures dropped by 1-2 degrees Celsius.

In the south of Europe, severe and long winters often recurred; in -1669, the Bosphorus Strait froze, and in the winter of 1708-1709, the Adriatic Sea froze off the coast. In the winter in Padua (Italy), snow fell “of unheard-of depth.” The year 1665 turned out to be especially cold. In winter, in France and Germany, according to contemporaries, birds froze in the air. Across Europe there was a surge in deaths.

Europe experienced a new wave of cooling in the 1740s. During this decade, the leading capitals of Europe - Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Berlin and London - experienced regular snowstorms and snow drifts. Snowstorms have been observed several times in France. In Sweden and Germany, according to contemporaries, strong snowstorms often covered roads. Abnormal frosts were observed in Paris in 1784. Until the end of April, the city was under stable snow and ice cover. Temperatures ranged from −7 to −10 °C.

Impact on Russia

The Little Ice Age in Siberia was even colder. In -1741 V. Bering's expedition recorded severe frosts in Kamchatka and the Commander Islands. The Swedish traveler I.P. Falk, who visited Siberia in 1771, wrote: “The climate is very harsh, the winter is severe and long... Blizzards often occur in May and September.” In the vicinity of Barnaul, the snow melted only on May 15, and the first leaves appeared on the trees on May 27 (new style). According to descriptions from 1826, in Zmeinogorsk in winter, all the streets and houses in the valleys were covered with snowdrifts up to the tops of the roofs.

Causes

Among the causes of the Little Ice Age, researchers name:

Impact of the event on the modern world

The theory of the Little Ice Age is one of the most powerful arguments in the hands of opponents of the concepts of anthropogenic