• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Study Reveals Which Humans Survived The Last Ice Age And Which Didn’t

March 2, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) – otherwise referred to as the last Ice Age – was an exceptionally challenging time for the hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited the Eurasian landmass. To survive the intense cold, human populations had to seek refuge on the southern fringe of the continent, although as a new study reveals, not all of these ancient groups made it through the big freeze.

Prior to the LGM, Europe was dominated by a human tradition known as the Gravettian culture, which is distinguishable thanks to its technological, artistic and funerary characteristics. Because Gravettian-associated artefacts have been unearthed across the continent, it had until now been assumed that the entire lineage was comprised of one genetically continuous population.

Advertisement

However, after analyzing the genomes of 356 prehistoric hunter-gatherers from 14 European countries, the study authors revealed that the Gravettian culture was in fact split into two completely unrelated groups. One of these populations, known as the Věstonice cluster, was present in central Europe during the 10,000 years leading up to the LGM, while the second group – called the Fournol cluster – occupied western and southwestern Europe.

When the LGM hit some 25,000 years ago, the Fournol cluster retreated to the relative warmth of the Iberian peninsula. According to the researchers’ analyses, this was a smart move, as Fournol genetics were detected in individuals who lived in Europe 20,000 years later, indicating that the group managed to survive the Ice Age.

“With these findings, we can for the first time directly support the hypothesis that during the Last Glacial Maximum people found refuge in the climatically more favourable region of southwestern Europe,” explained study author Cosimo Posth in a statement.

Unfortunately for the Věstonice hunter-gatherers, all genetic traces of their existence vanished during the LGM. Previously, scholars had assumed that Italy may have provided a refuge for central European populations during the last Ice Age, yet this finding contradicts this theory, indicating that the region’s inhabitants found no shelter in the boot-shaped peninsula.

Advertisement

Instead, the researchers found that a separate group of people called the Epigravettian culture moved into northern Italy at the end of the LGM, replacing the now-frozen Věstonice population. “We find that individuals associated with a later culture, the Epigravettian, are genetically distinct from the area‘s previous inhabitants,” says study author He Yu. “Presumably, these people came from the Balkans, arrived first in northern Italy around the time of the glacial maximum and spread all the way south to Sicily.”

This finding reshapes the entire narrative of the region, as it had previously been theorized that the Epigravettian culture may have evolved from the Gravettian inhabitants of Italy. Instead, it appears that the younger tradition originated elsewhere and was transported to the peninsula once the previous occupants had died off.

Then, around 14,000 years ago, the Epigravettian inhabitants of Italy began to spread northwards into central Europe, taking advantage of the warming conditions to become the dominant human lineage in the region. It wasn’t until about 8,000 years ago, however, that they bumped into the descendants of the Fournol cluster, who had migrated eastwards from their Iberian refuge.

“At that time, hunter-gatherers with distinct ancestries and appearances started to mix with each other,” says He Yu. “They were different in many aspects, including their skin and eye colour.”

Advertisement

The study has been published in the journal Nature.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Firefly launches its first rocket, but loses the launch craft in mid-flight explosion
  2. China sees ‘Cold War mentality’ in U.S., British, Australia pact
  3. San Diego Zoo Penguin Gets Fancy New Footwear In Form Of Orthopedic Boot
  4. Laser Experiment Breaks Record While Crossing University Hallway

Source Link: Study Reveals Which Humans Survived The Last Ice Age And Which Didn’t

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • New Nimbus COVID Variant Present In The UK, Infections Could Spread This Summer
  • Scientists Have Finally Measured How Fast Quantum Entanglement Happens
  • Why Earth’s Magnetic Pole Reversals Are So Fascinating
  • World First Artificial Solar Eclipse Created, The “Closest Thing” To HIV Vaccine Gets FDA Approval, And Much More This Week
  • “Remarkable” Pattern Discovered Behind Prime Numbers, Math’s Most Unpredictable Objects
  • People Are Only Just Learning What The World’s Most Expensive Cheese Is Made Of
  • The Physics Behind Iron: Why It’s The Most Stable Element
  • What Is The Reason Some People Keep Waking Up At 3am Every Night?
  • Michigan Bear Finally Free After 2 Years With Plastic Lid Stuck Around Its Neck
  • Pangolins, The World’s Most Trafficked Mammal, May Soon Get Federal Protection In The US
  • Sharks Have No Bones, So How Do They Get So Big?
  • 2025 Is Shaping Up To Be A Whirlwind Year For Tornadoes In The US
  • Unexpected Nova Just Appeared In The Night Sky – And You Can See It With The Naked Eye
  • Watch As Maori Octopus Decides Eating A Ray Is A Good Idea
  • There Is Life Hiding In The Earth’s Deep Biosphere, But Not As You Know It
  • Two Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted A Canada Gosling, And It’s Ridiculously Adorable
  • Hybrid Pythons Are Taking Over The Florida Everglades With “Hybrid Vigor”
  • Mysterious, Powerful Radio Pulse Traced Back To NASA Satellite That’s Been Dead Since 1967
  • This Is The Best (And Worst) Sleep Position
  • Artificial Eclipse, Dancing Dinosaurs, And 50 Years Of “JAWS”
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version