Image courtesy of Esteban De Armas/Shutterstock
Joel Kontinen
An Austrian site occupied by humans from around 24,000 to 20,000 years ago documents a switch towards hunting reindeer for their fur, which may have helped people to endure harsh winters during the last glacial period.
Evolution has a knack for presenting problems, The latest is with the recurring ice ages that were supposed to engulf Earth. Long ages have their cold spells occurring every thousands of years.
“An open-air site in Austria occupied by
humans during the coldest part of the last glacial period may have been dedicated to hunting reindeer for
pelts, showing how people adapted to extreme temperatures in Europe.
The site, called
Kammern-Grubgraben, was heavily occupied from around 24,000 to 20,000 years ago
and contains the largest abundance of tools, ornaments, artefacts and stone
structures in Europe during the cold and unforgiving most recent glacial
maximum. At this time, the mean annual temperatur got colder.”
Source:
Taylor Mitchell Brown 2025 Ancient camp shows how humans adapted to extreme cold in Europe | New Scientist 25 April
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