A BU study has shed new light on how humans responded to the extreme conditions of the last ice age, 20,000 years ago.
It has been previously thought that human populations contracted into warmer climates in areas such as Spain and Italy, then dispersed north across Europe when warmer temperatures arrived.
However, new research led by Bournemouth University has suggested that human populations remained spread across Europe, even during the harshest conditions. The study also found that resilient animals such as wolves and bears followed a similar survival strategy by staying in habitats across Europe.
The findings have been published in the journal Diversity.
“It is surprising that humans followed this pattern, as they had originated in Africa and their resilience to such cold climates might seem unlikely,” said John Stewart, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeoecology at Bournemouth University and a member of the research team. “Our findings are likely to cause a rethink of climate change and its effects on plants and animals, especially for those studying human migration patterns,” he added.
The study team examined the genetic histories of 23 common mammals across Europe. Unlike most previous studies, which focus on the movements of specific species, the researchers classified these into four groups according to their common patterns of expansion.
The research focussed on areas with the highest diversity of species today, known as refugia.
“These are likely to be the areas which have been inhabited by species for the longest time, and where they survived despite the unfavourable conditions of the last glaciation,” Professor Stewart explained.
Four main survival patterns emerged from the results. Some mammals, including roe deer and red fox retreated south then expanded as temperatures rose. Others, including beavers and lynx, spread from east to west at the end of the glaciation. And some, including pygmy shrews and common voles, survived in enclaves in otherwise inhospitable environments in the north.
The most surprising, however was the previously unrecognised survival pattern of humans.
“Whether they had similar ecological adaptations to wolves and brown bears or whether they survived due to human-specific cultural characteristics is unclear,” said Professor Stewart. “It is well established that they had clothing, built dwellings, and controlled fire during the cold conditions of the last ice age, so human ingenuity and innovations at the time could have been key to their resilience in freezing conditions,” he concluded.
The study was carried out in partnership with Cornell University, University of Huddersfield and the Marine Institute, Ireland.
