Ice Age

Ancient DNA Reveals Mastodons Were Shaped by Ice Age Climate Swings

New genetic evidence uncovers repeated waves of dispersal and surprising diversity among North America’s Ice Age giants.

An adult mastodon consuming a spruce branch set against a backdrop illustrating their cyclical continental migrations linked to climate fluctuations.
The Fossil from Atapuerca: an Upper Deciduous Third Molar from a Young Reindeer.

Scientists date 300,000-year reindeer tooth, resetting Iberia’s Ice Age calendar

 Blue Mountains National Park, Australia.

Dargan cave findings reveal humans lived in Australia's Blue Mountains during last Ice Age

 One of the wolf cub siblings uncovered

Famous Ice Age 'puppies' identified as wolf cubs


Archaeologists discover 20,000-year-old stone tools in South African caves, revealing Ice Age techn

"Finding the same tools and the same methods used to make these tools across this entire country suggests that people were connecting with each other over long distances."

 Archaeologists discover 20,000-year-old stone tools in South African caves, revealing Ice Age technological sophistication.

Geological evidence links Late Antique Little Ice Age to fall of Roman Empire

Gernon: 'the Late Antique Little Ice Age helped tip the balance when the Eastern Empire was stretched thin'.

 Geological evidence links Late Antique Little Ice Age to fall of Roman Empire.

How foragers built great fires when the Ice Age was at its coldest

A recent Geoarchaeology study led by William C. Murphree and colleagues investigates three combustion features at the Ukrainian site of Korman’ 9, dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

 How foragers built great fires when the Ice Age was at its coldest. Illustration.

After 46,000 years, once thawed the worm extracted from Arctic permafrost resumed normal activity

The nematode, officially named Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, was discovered at a depth of 40 meters inside a fossilized burrow of Arctic squirrels.

 Permafrost areas.

Ice Age American families pulled travois 22,000 years ago, White Sands discovery shows

Footprints of adults and children alongside drag marks indicate Ice Age families used travois to transport goods.

 Ancient American families pulled travois 22,000 years ago, White Sands discovery shows.

An Ice Age refuge: DNA of humans, wolves, mammoths retrieved from sediments in El Mirón cave

For the first time, researchers managed to recover DNA from sediment at a Cantabrian site.

 Aerial view of an autumnal landscape of beech forest in Ramales de la Victoria village within Alto Ason Natural Park of Cantabria Autonomous Community of Spain.

Study reveals how Ice Age humans built mammoth-bone structures

Evidence suggests humans scavenged mammoth bones from existing bone beds over centuries.

 Mammoth bones.

30,000 years ago, European Ice Age children pierced their cheeks at age 10

A new research suggests that cheek piercings were popular as long ago as 30,000 years, with teenagers and children as young as 10 years old sporting labrets during the Ice Age.

 30,000 years ago, European Ice Age children pierced their cheeks at age 10.

Homeowner finds complete Ice Age mastodon jawbone while gardening in his Hudson Valley backyard

The discovery was made in the town of Scotchtown, about 70 miles from New York City.

 The mastodon jaw.

Virginia Tech study reveals evidence of Earth's 'Plumeworld Ocean' era after last Ice Age

The findings suggest vast rivers of glacial meltwater rushed into the sea, pooling over dense salty ocean water.

 Steam rising up off river.

Chill, Europe: When humans fled Europe over bad weather - study

“We suggest that these extreme conditions led to the depopulation of Europe,” write the authors of the study, “perhaps lasting for several successive glacial-interglacial cycles."

 Artistic depiction of an ancient human.