Transcript Document

Fisherman and hunters take heart!
A warming trend has been observed in
France and this spring promises a bountiful
take. The local Magdalenian folk report
numerous recent sightings in coastal rivers
of spawning salmon with hungry seals in
hot pursuit, accompanied by mating eels
and the early blooming of many plants.
15,000 BC
BC
27,000
Upper Danube,
Southern
France
Southern Germany
As the weather continues to improve the
occupants of La Riera have begun to visit
the seashore where they collect limpets,
periwinkles and sea urchins. The pine and
birch woodland that have now become
established in the hills harbor roe deer and
wild boar, which the La Rierans stalk individually using the newly invented bow and
arrow.
15,000 BC
BC
27,000
Upper
La
Riera,
Danube,
Northern
Southern
Spain Germany
Our station in northern Spain reports that
large bison herds form the basis for sustenance in the region. The Magdalenian
people there celebrate the bison at the
cave of Altamira in art, song and dance.
15,000 BC
BC
27,000
Upper Danube,
Altamira,
Northern
Southern
Spain Germany
We have been receiving consistent springtime reports from the Loire Valley in
southern France for the last several years
of a lusher growth of grass, earlier nesting
times for birds, and reduced snowfall. In
response Magdalenian people are moving
every year a kilometer or so deeper into
central France.
14,000 BC
Southern France
Although the northern glaciers have begun
to retreat and the weather is warmer to
the south, tundra-like conditions persist at
Chaleux Cave in Belgium, as evidenced by
the large numbers of cold-loving Arctic
lemmings found there, as well as larger
tundra-loving animals, such as reindeer
and musk ox.
14,000 BC
Chaleux, Belgium
The climate all across Europe has begun
to improve with higher temperatures.
Herbs and shrubs have taken hold in the
rolling hills of central Europe, and for the
first time in millennia we are seeing plants
such as dwarf willow and mugwort.
13,500 BC
Europe
On the eastern front hunting has been
excellent at Mezhirich overlooking the
Dnieper River. The residents there take full
advantage of all the seasons pursuing
mammoth in the winter, reindeer in the
spring, and fur-bearing animals and waterfowl in summer.
13,000 BC
Mezhirich , Ukraine
The retreat of the northern glaciers
has exposed the continental shelf
between France and Britain and large
herds of reindeer and horse have
been seen grazing in the deep valley
separating the Thames from the
Rhine.
12,800 BC
Doggerand
FLASH…
Improved weather has allowed humans
to return to Britain for the first time in over
10,000 years. They are in pursuit of horse
and reindeer across the tundra there and
some members of mtDNA haplogroup U5
have encamped at Gough’s Cave in the
Cheddar Gorge where they have developed
new technology.
Gough’s Cave, Southern England
12,700 BC
IN MEMMORIAM
We mourn the passing of Erggg, our longtime reporter
from southern Britain. He will be sorely missed.
But we predict that thousands of years from now he will
become a celebrity when his remains will be found, named
Cheddar Man, and his U5 mtDNA matched to that of a
local school teacher named Adrian Targett. Go Erggg!
Gough’s Cave, Southern England
12,690 BC
With the recent retreat of the Scandinavian
glacier thousands of reindeer have begun
to use the Ahrensburg Valley for their
annual migrations across the treeless
tundra to winter pastures in southern
Sweden. Magdalenian hunters are taking
easy advantage of this predictable route
and are enjoying the excellent summer
weather with temperatures reaching as
high as 13° C.
12,600 BC
Meiendorf, Northern Germany
Well, judging by the harpoon in my hands I seem to be a totally deranged
fisherman that has been distracted from spearing salmon in the river below
by a passing herd of reindeer and has run amuck trying to hunt them down
with an inappropriate bone harpoon.
Magdalenian hunters actually used the bow and arrow to hunt reindeer.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
27,000
12,600 BC
BC
Upper Danube,
Northern
Germany
Southern Germany
The recent dramatic peak in temperature,
melting of the northern glaciers and
resulting sea level rise of almost 100 m is
now being called the Bølling Oscillation by
our paleocasters at the Glacier Channel.
12,500 BC
Europe
After several centuries of colder weather
temperatures have risen again to a peak,
called the Allerød Oscillation, and with it
full woodlands of birch, poplar and pine
have penetrated northern Germany,
Britain and Scandinavia.
11,500 BC
Europe
11,000 BC
Gönnersdorf, Central Germany
Horse meat is the dietary staple of the
people living at Gönnersdorf on the
middle Rhine. The Gönnersdorfers are
also accomplished artists and specialize in
engraving images of horses and women
on slabs of slate.
Their dwellings are also quite sophisticated.
They are circular, 20 to 25 feet in diameter,
built with solid wooden posts and covered
with sods of turf and thick hide.
27,000
11,000 BC
BC
Upper Danube,
Gönnersdorf,
Central
Southern
Germany
Germany
11,000 BC
Gönnersdorf, Central Germany
Just when we thought it was safe to
recolonize the northern latitudes sub-arctic
conditions have descended yet again on
central Europe in less than a decade
forcing the Magdalenians south into warmer
refugia. Our paleocasters are betting the
cold may last another 1000 years and are
calling this the Younger Dryas period.
10,500 BC
Europe
The horse herds of central Europe have been
decimated by the severe cold. Gönnersdorf
has been abandoned for good.
27,000
10,500 BC
BC
Upper Danube,
Gönnersdorf,
Central
Southern
Germany
Germany
Despite the hardships of the recent Younger
Dryas glacial advance, the hunters of
Stellmoor on the northern German tundra
have been very successful in the reindeer
hunt. Spears have been replaced by bows
and arrows tipped with distinctive tanged
points, thus increasing tremendously the
efficiency of the hunt.
10,500 BC
Stellmoor, Northern Germany
Europe is experiencing a dramatic warming
trend, which is providing the thickest
covering of woodland the continent has
seen for more than 100,000 years. Our
paleocasters have proclaimed that this is
the end of Younger Dryas period and warm
Holocene days are ahead.
9,600 BC
Central Europe
The glacial tundra is gone and thick
woodlands now cover most of Britain.
Forest-dwelling red deer and roe deer have
replaced the migratory reindeer of the
Pleistocene.
9,600 BC
Northern England
Dense forests of birch now surround
Lake Pickering in northern Britain.
There the Mesolithic residents of
Star Carr
8,600 BC
Star Carr, Northern England
To the east of Star Carr, on the low
exposed continental shelf known as
Doggerland, the rising sea level
has created a rich lagoon environment,
which is a magnet to waterfowl.
The Mesolithic hunters of this area
have developed new technology
Taking great quantities of .
The Mesolithic hunters of this area
have developed new technology
Taking great quantities of .
8,000 BC
Doggerland
JUST IN FROM THE ARCTIC OCEAN…
A massive sub-marine landside has
occurred midway between the coast
of Norway and Iceland creating an
immense tidal wave. The tsunami has
flooded most of the lowlands of
Doggerland between Scotland and
Denmark burying hundreds of Mesolithic
settlements under 17,000 cubic km
of sediment. The Dogger Hills are still
dry but increasingly threatened by
the rising sea level and advance of
the newly created North Sea.
7,500 BC
Doggerland
For the first time since the Last Glacial
Maximum of 18,000 BC the glaciers have
retreated from Northern Ireland allowing
many human settlements to spring up
there. At Mount Sandel in County Antrim
Mesolithic hunters and foragers are living
year round and eating a wide variety of
seasonal resources: wild boar, eel,
hazelnuts and water lilies in the fall and
winter, salmon and other fish in the spring
and summer.
7,000 BC
Northern Ireland