The ice age is one of the most misunderstood prehistoric episodes within our society. We use to confuse many facts around this event, beginning with the huge mistake of assuming that the ice age has been an isolated, single happening in the history of our planet.
There have been multiple ice ages during the history of Earth, all of them abundant in interesting facts. Like passionate fans we are at ITV, we have been increasingly interested in knowing many of the most curious facts around the ice age phenomena.
The Efforts for Survival
Humans have been present during multiple ice ages. While nature behaved harshly to the human race, forcing small populations to face painfully low temperatures, the homo sapiens managed the situation good enough to survive the punishment of the era.
The human ingenuity, even thousands of years ago, proven to be enough to guarantee the survival of the species. There is evidence that is 15.000 years old, which tells us that human tribes fought the cold environment back by building, for example, shelters made of mammoth’ bones and thick fur from other animals.
Cooperation was key to accomplish such survival, mainly because the weapons’ ineffectiveness forced people to hunt in big teams. All these habits and social traits predominated as strong caused for the race’s continuity.
Ice Era’s Cycles
Like we mentioned before, one of the misconceptions about this phenomena is that the ice age has been a unique event. Truth be told, our planet has experimented multiple ice ages.
The exact causes for the beginning of an ice age haven’t determined yet, but we have very convincing theories. We have a more or less precise record with 11 ice ages and we understand that, because of their cyclic nature, they will continue to happen.
In fact, in our recent history, we have enough evidence to determine that there have been mini ice ages. One of them took place between XVI and XIX centuries, which notably affected Northern Europe, leaving long-lasting marks in the society.
Animals Ready for the Occasion
Many animal species survived these eras as well, thanks to their capacity to adapt to difficult circumstances. Those animals that weren’t capable of developing new mechanisms to fight back the cold simply disappeared.
A great example of this is the theory about a rhino species that lived during an ice age. This species developed a shovel-shaped bone where it now has its horn. Such bone allowed it to dig for food.
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is well known among Christians, this being the place where God placed the first man. Many elements present in the Bible correspond to people, events, and locations that did exist and were relatively important for ancient societies. The Garden of Eden is no exception.
Many have said that the Garden of Eden was a place in the Middle East. However, due to geographical circumstances, this theory’s viability is low.
Now, there is a theory related to an ice age that occurred around 200,000 years ago. Evidence shows that this occasion was particularly lethal, causing the total annihilation of many species. In that moment, there was a fully habitable place within the region that we know today as South Africa. This coast, for some particular reason we don’t understand yet, was protected from the ice age’s dramatic consequences, representing a paradise amidst chaos.