The Ice Ages (Pleistocene 2.

6 MYA to 11 000 years ago)

The current cycle of ice ages is estimated to have begun during the age of Homo
Habilis and so didn’t really affect our species as we were in Africa.
However as early hominids ventured out of Africa and into Europe and Asia so
the cold weather and the Ice Ages became a big part of their lives.
Ice Ages occur as part of the cycles of rising and lowering of temperatures over
the eons of Earth’s history. These temperature swings are brought about by
various factors including:
1. The tilt of the Earth – At the moment the Earth’s tilt is 23.5° but this can
vary from anywhere between 21° to 25° and as a result the amount of Sun
the polar regions receives also varies and so creates large temperature
changes.

2. The elliptical orbit – The earth orbits the sun in an oval shape and on 4 th
July it is at its furthest point. This orbit can also become more elongated
by the alignment of the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn which every
hundred thousand years draw the earth nearer or further away from the
sun.

3. The earth itself has transitioned from being a molten lava filled world at its
inception to slowly cooling over the eons and this has influenced its
temperature. Currently radioactivity at its core creates the driving
convectional heat processes that move the tectonic plates. In its history
with the goldilocks balance of not having too thin a crust like Venus and
not having too thick a crust like Mars has meant climate regulation has
also been affected by these internal heating systems.

Ice ages and tropical ages have happened regularly over the last half a billion
years, the period where multicellular life has existed on Earth – the Phanerozoic
Eon. The last ice age began around 120 000 years ago and although there were
warm periods, the glacial maximum was reached around 18 000 years ago after
which the planet gradually warmed.
This period saw the expansion of homo sapiens into northern Europe. It is in this
time period we see the first pottery which suggests more settled living.
The Ice Ages (Pleistocene 2.6 MYA to 11 000 years ago)

The Younger Dryas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95u2sk_lRoQ&t=214s

However, around 12 500 years ago the Earth went back into a deep freeze,
possibly as a result of a comet impact in Greenland. This event affected the
megafauna and many ice age animals went into decline such as the Wooly
Mammoth. Homo Sapiens emerged from this catastrophe more capable and
able to influence his/her environment.