The ice age crisis: how climate change almost wiped out our ancestors

Von WOM

About 45,000 years ago, the first modern people entered Europe after immigrating from Africa via the Middle East. They crashed into the already native Neanderthals and had to assert themselves in a constantly changing climate. These exciting findings were brought to light through a comprehensive study in the “Science” journal, which are based on the examination of petrified teeth of early people. Researchers led by Hannes Rathmann reported that drastic climate changes led almost to the extinction of human species in the west of Europe about 28,000 years ago than the populations due to the aggressive cold and a dwindling food chain, such as Today. reported.

climate change and isolation

In parallel to the findings of the research team, it can be seen that in the time of the late plenary llacial between 28,000 and 14,700 years before our time, which glaciers reached their maximum expansion and large parts of Northern and Central Europe referred. The early hunters and collectors were faced with dramatic living conditions that threatened their food sources and genetic networking. During this inhospitable period, the genetic connection between the people in Western and Eastern Europe fell practically, which resulted in a massive demographic decline, so that certain populations died out about 20,000 years ago. This shocking development was diagnosed as a direct consequence of the climate changes and the withdrawal of their habitats, reports National Geographic .

The scientific knowledge about the dramatic survival conditions of early humans not only tantalize historians and archaeologists, but also show how vulnerable human populations can be compared to climate changes. Although the temperatures finally rose again and the Homo Sapiens found its way back to the scene, the history of the ice age people remains a deterrent example of possible future challenges through the currently progressive climate change.

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