Hominids And The Last Ice Age

[Falloutdude]

So this is for those who are interested in anthropology, more specifically biological anthropology. I was discussing this with someone else on ex-christian and thought it was interesting.

 

So, by my understanding, there was a pretty severe ice age that ended around 20,000 years ago. (I may be wrong, although it's not exactly the most crucial to my question)

 

What I am a bit perplexed about is how early Europeans survived the cold. I mean, humans aren't really adapted for the cold. Even neanderthals, who were much stockier and better at maintaining body temperature, would have been severely tested in this kind of weather if they ventured too far north.

 

Personally, I don't know enough about the human threshold for cold to really speculate, which is why I ask this question, but as far as I know we can't really stand too cold of temperatures. Even Inuits and other humans, at least by my understanding, live in a much warmer temperature than Europe at it's coldest during the ice age.

 

My question is, how could early hominids survive in the north, especially northern Europe, with it's extreme cold and ice sheets covering much of the continent?

[hereticzero]

Keep in mind people do not walk around naked, even if cave people. Clothing consisted more than just animal skins. Clothing was insulated for warmth. People followed the ice and glaciers. On the outskirts would be food and running water. man is very adaptive to his environment. We shared this planet with at least four or five different types of hominids, not just neanderthals.

[mymistake]

What do you mean humans aren't really adapted for the cold? You mean the ones who don't live where it is cold? Maybe you and I personally are not adapted to cold. But populations who live in Siberia and Alaska are. During World War II the Russian defenders loved the Russian winter. They didn't love it because it was fun. They loved it because they were use to it and knew how to survive it. If I were to go to Montana and get trapped in a blizzard I would have no idea how to survive. But those who live in Montana would never risk going out in winter unless they knew they were prepared. They would know what "prepared" means while I do not.

 

As for the last Ice Age humans had fire, caves, animal fur. They were also smarter than the animals they hunted for food and supplies.

[RankStranger]

Well it was real cold back then. But we folks of European descent are here. So it must've panned out somehow.

[Ouroboros]

The ice age was a larger Earth-wide event than the flood, why doesn't the Bible mention it? Even the early humans in the Bible would have noticed an extreme long period of extreme cold.

[sdelsolray]

The ice age was a larger Earth-wide event than the flood, why doesn't the Bible mention it? Even the early humans in the Bible would have noticed an extreme long period of extreme cold.

 

Perhaps because the authors of the Bible lived nearer the equator and the effects of the Ice Age were already many thousands of years in the past and even at its peak the Ice Ages' effects were not that pronounced in the Middle East. In short, there was no oral history of the Ice Age to the authors.

[Ouroboros]

The ice age was a larger Earth-wide event than the flood, why doesn't the Bible mention it? Even the early humans in the Bible would have noticed an extreme long period of extreme cold.

 

Perhaps because the authors of the Bible lived nearer the equator and the effects of the Ice Age were already many thousands of years in the past and even at its peak the Ice Ages' effects were not that pronounced in the Middle East. In short, there was no oral history of the Ice Age to the authors.

I know that, silly.

 

It's more a question directed to doubters and Christians to make them wonder why.

 

Personally, I know the reason is that the stories are just stories and made in a certain region, but you have those who still are in between Christianity and Ex-C, and are asking themselves if the Bible is true etc. They need to start thinking about why the Bible doesn't mention the big events in geological history. There are many apologists who argue that there's evidence for the flood, but they never make an argument to why the Bible fails to mention all the other events.

[mymistake]

The other thing is that people in the ice age knew nothing else. Maybe they had an oral history that thousands of years ago things were better. That is a big assumption. More likely it had been that cold for more generations than they could track. So it was all they knew. They wouldn't call it an ice age. It just was. They would have called it normal.

 

Then gradually things got better. That took several generations as well. Things gradually getting better doesn't quite lend itself to a good fire side story.

[Onyx]

I wonder what the last Ice Age humans would have thought and said as they saw the sun rise above rapidly greening pastures. It musdt've been a thing of pure poetry to witness as they stepped out of the last ever Ice Age winter into the warmth of the summer. Man, there must've been a need for nudity for a while before they could turn their fur clothes into better ones. It's things like this that makes me wish we could time travel. The past is so mysterious with our unknown human ancestors and the giant ass insects and these little cities in the Fertile Crescent. What Jericho and Catal Huyuk must have been like in their primes? These beautiful but barren building walls in the Anotalian plains holds many secrets and they must've been secrets indeed. We will never know, sadly.

 

This is why I think good archaeologists are one of the greatest heroes that humanity has to offer, along with firefighters and people in moments of crisis. These archaeologists are slowly piecing our identity together, so we will gradually know ourselves. So in the past, we will know our future.

[mymistake]

I wonder what the last Ice Age humans would have thought and said as they saw the sun rise above rapidly greening pastures. It musdt've been a thing of pure poetry to witness as they stepped out of the last ever Ice Age winter into the warmth of the summer. Man, there must've been a need for nudity for a while before they could turn their fur clothes into better ones.

 

Must have looked like a garden planted by the gods and fed by four rivers . . . from all the glaciers melting.

 

 

Okay I'm evil.

 

[Chikirin]

This book was interesting, shows how people live in cold conditions today:

 

Reindeer People

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reindeer-People-Animals-Spirits-Siberia/dp/0618211888

[hereticzero]

The ice age was a larger Earth-wide event than the flood, why doesn't the Bible mention it? Even the early humans in the Bible would have noticed an extreme long period of extreme cold.

 

Perhaps because the authors of the Bible lived nearer the equator and the effects of the Ice Age were already many thousands of years in the past and even at its peak the Ice Ages' effects were not that pronounced in the Middle East. In short, there was no oral history of the Ice Age to the authors.

It may be that mid eastern dwellers were not as impacted by the ice age as northern cultures but mid eastern dwellers were also a sea-faring people who would have encountered ice sheets if they traveled extensively. Even in those days, ships traveled great distances.

[sdelsolray]

The ice age was a larger Earth-wide event than the flood, why doesn't the Bible mention it? Even the early humans in the Bible would have noticed an extreme long period of extreme cold.

 

Perhaps because the authors of the Bible lived nearer the equator and the effects of the Ice Age were already many thousands of years in the past and even at its peak the Ice Ages' effects were not that pronounced in the Middle East. In short, there was no oral history of the Ice Age to the authors.

It may be that mid eastern dwellers were not as impacted by the ice age as northern cultures but mid eastern dwellers were also a sea-faring people who would have encountered ice sheets if they traveled extensively. Even in those days, ships traveled great distances.

 

"Those days" were about 16,000 BC. I have no information as to whether Middle East populations were seafaring at that time. If they were, and if they travelled far enough and returned, you may be correct.

[mymistake]

"Those days" were about 16,000 BC. I have no information as to whether Middle East populations were seafaring at that time. If they were, and if they travelled far enough and returned, you may be correct.

 

It's been a while but if memory serves that was around the time North Africa went from a lush savanna to become the Sahara Desert. That in turn drove people to the Nile river where they became Egypt. Maybe I got the dates wrong.

[Falloutdude]

I didn't think sea fairing was how the initial immigrants made it to the Americas, more like the land bridge, or something to that effect, I'm a little fuzzy on migration history, more knowledgeable in the areas of middle-eastern to European cultural and developmental expansion (ie Western Civillization classes and such)

 

Anyways, i've heard they weren't really deep into the north until the ice sheets receded a bit, which would make sense. Or that they followed the patterns of ice sheet progression and recession.

[mymistake]

Sea fairing is one of the newer theories based on clovis point technology placing the east coast as the first place of settlement. The Siberian tribes simply had nothing like clovis point weapons. However tribes near what would become France had something very similar. They figure sea levels were much lower back then so there was a string of islands or the west coast was closer. Something like that. Can't tell you much better than that. It's like been a year or two since I watched the documentary.