// Schmidt, I. , BICHO, N. / PLOS ONE (edit)
Last ice age: As prehistoric populations adapted to climate change
During the last ice age, prehistoric populations of hunter-gatherer in Europe had to deal with climate change. A new global study, with the participation of researchers from the University of Algarve, allowed to know how they adapted.
A team of 25 archaeologists specializing in European prehistory from 20 European universities and scientific institutions, including the University of Algarve, conducted an archaeological study on human occupation during the Final Superior Paleolithic, For over 12 thousand years.
The study, which was attended by the Interdisciplinary Center for Archeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (Icarehb) of UALG, revealed that European populations did not decrease the same way throughout the continent during the last cold phase of the glacial age.
The archaeologists team revealed significant changes in size and population density during Key periods at the end of the last era of icespecifically between 14 thousand and 11,600 years ago.
It was published in “Plos One”, with the title “large -scale demographic answers to climate change in Europe during the final paleolithic.”
The results show that the older settlement of a population human in northeastern central Europe during the final paleolithic was followed by a dramatic population decline During the last cold phase of the Ice Age (Groelândia Glacial Stadium 1).
This decline reduced the total population of Europe by half.
However, the study also showed that some areas of Central Europe maintained stability or even had a slight increase in the population, contrary to the general trend.
The team interprets this data as Evidence of a human migration to the east in response to the aggravation of the weather conditions felt in the region.
When compiling a comprehensive database on archaeological sites of this period and use an innovative geostatistic method called Colony protocolArchaeologists estimated the size and density of prehistoric populations in different regions of Europe.
The protocol offers a standard procedure To estimate prehistoric demographic data, allowing comparisons over time.
The changes identified in the size of regional populations provide new perspectives on how the early humans responded to the environmental challenges of the time.
The study focuses on two key periods: the GROLAND (GI-1D-A) and Groelândia Glacial Stadium 1 (GS-1).
During GI-D-A, a warmer period of the final paleolithic, Humans continued to repopulate and expand to the north and northeast From Central Europe, making this region the center of demographic dynamics in Europe for the first time in prehistory.
Populations in southwest Europe, particularly in Spain and France, started to decrease Compared to the population estimates of the previous period, the upper paleolithic.
When the climate became much colder during the GS-1, a climate period known in the northern hemisphere as Recent DryasEurope’s total population has radically decreased to half.
But the new study reveals that regional dynamics have varied considerably: estimates indicate a increase in population density in some areas From Europe (such as northern Italy, Poland and northeast of Germany), as well as a general displacement of west to east areas.
“These observations probably reflect the movement to the east in response to the decrease in abrupt and intense temperature during Younger Dryas,” explains Isabell Schmidtfrom the Department of Prehistoric Archeology of the University of Colony and Coordinator of the Study.
Already for Nuno BichoUalg Icarehb Archaeologist and one of the authors of the article, “This investigation introduces us to A unique view for demography and migration for over 12,000 years of our ancestors, when climate change had a decisive impact on human societies”.
Today, says the archaeologist, “perhaps this type of information can be seen as a lessonat a time when migrations and climate change are on the agenda. ”
Although population dynamics in these early stages of prehistory is not yet fully understood, the study contributes to the growing evidence on how prehistoric humans responded to climate change.
The new study points out that, unlike in previous periods of population collapse, humans in the superior final paleolithic responded to problems migrating to more favorable areas from the European continent.
