I spread Perrin Remonté's Ice Age map out on the table. At first glance, a hint of resinous frost wafts through my room. I smell the cold scent of pine, hear the distant crackling of shifting ice, and feel a slight tingling on my skin, as if snow dust were blowing across my cheeks.
Main map of the Last Glacial Maximum brilliantmaps.com
The Great Freeze
Around 26,000 to 19,000 years ago the Earth experienced its Last Glacial Maximum. The global average temperature was well above six degrees lower, the sea level around 125 meters deeper than today (en.wikipedia.orgWhen I read these figures, my breath audibly rushes as if I were standing at the edge of a glacier myself, watching frozen fog fill the valleys.
While the sky sparkles cobalt blue, brilliant white covers a quarter of the land area. Every ray of sunlight that hits the ice bounces back into space as if off a mirror. The earth continues to cool, enveloping the oceans in a shell of ice. I taste metallic coldness on my tongue, while the wind blows fine powder snow into my mouth in my mind.
Giants of ice – continents beneath the ice sheet
North America was crushed by two glacier complexes: the Laurentide– and the Cordilleran ice sheet. Together, they stored more frozen water than today's Antarctic inland ice (science.nasa.govI imagine a deep rumbling as kilometers of ice slide downhill, boulders crunch, and sparks of abraded quartz glow in the darkness.
In Europe the Fennoscandian Shield arched. Its southern border ran across what is now the Baltic Sea. A deathly silence and cold lay over everything, turning every breath into a misty arc. The map also shows the Patagonian ice sheet in the south of South America. I smell salty spray splashing up on the few ice-free coastal cliffs, mixed with the mossy scent of damp tundra.
Extensive ice sheets over Northern Europe brilliantmaps.com
3 New Land Bridges – Paths to Adventure
The water that was removed revealed forgotten worlds. The Beringia steppe connected Siberia and Alaska. Tufts of grass rustled under the hooves of migrating mammoths, and humans followed them, while cold smoke rose from reindeer dung above their campsites. (nps.gov).
In the North Atlantic, it extended Doggerland between Britain and Scandinavia. I imagine the musty smell of peat, damp soil with birch roots protruding from it, while herds of reindeer carry the crackling of frozen blades of grass through the night. (en.wikipedia.org).
Further south, the present-day islands of Sumatra, Borneo, and Java merged to form a gigantic plain. Sundaland. The warm, damp smell of clay wafted through the air over the dry channels of the Mekong. Even greater was Sahul, that united Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. A dry wind blew there, tasting of eucalyptus leaves withering in the sun.
Life in the shadow of the glaciers
Despite the frost, sparks hissed over pine wood fires. Fur coats rustled as hunters swung their spear throwers. I feel rough reindeer silk on my fingertips as I imagine adjusting a turned-down fur collar.
Pollen analyses show extensive areas south of the glaciers Pine and birch forests, interspersed with steppe areas. There, the giant deer ate dew from frozen stalks. The meat tasted strong and fatty, ideal for combating the biting cold. When the night was clear, the northern lights sparkled silently above the tent roofs. I hear the soft humming of a bone flute, its tone sounding piercingly clear in the frosty air.
Why did it get so cold?
The Milanković cycles changed Earth's orbit and axial tilt. Less summer sun meant that snow no longer melted. White ice reflected sunlight and further cooled the Earth (science.nasa.goven.wikipedia.org). At the same time, concentrations of CO₂ and methane. Volcanic eruptions blew dust into the stratosphere, intensifying the mirror effect and dampening heat.
In my mind, I listen to the dry trickling sound of snow crystals sliding off a pine branch. Above me, the wood creaks in the freezing cold night. The temperature feels as if it would freeze every damp spot in my clothes in an instant.
Powerful thaw – the end of the ice sheet
Approximately 19,000 years The melting began before today. The sea level rose slowly at first, then during the Meltwater Pulse 1A by almost 20 meters (eos.orgces.fau.eduI hear thunderous crashes when glacier fronts break off and towering icebergs plunge into the water.
Where there was dry steppe just a moment ago, suddenly there is a rolling sea. I feel wet, cold sand between my toes and smell algae clinging to freshly flooded rocks in a pale green color. Coastlines shift, valleys drain away, and land bridges break like rotten wood.
Hidden archives – what the ice left behind
The weight of the glaciers sanded entire mountains. Under my fingernail, I can imagine feeling the grooves of a glacier scratch on bare granite. Meltwater lakes collected in hollowed-out valleys, later filled with fine mud. Today, pollen dust rests in them, which smells of spruce resin under the microscope and tells of the forests that advanced on the scree slopes.
Reindeer equipment and flint blades from Doggerland lie dormant beneath the North Sea. Every find smells of salty mud that has preserved it for thousands of years. In Siberia, the permafrost soil is thawing, exposing woolly mammoth carcasses whose fatty aroma still smells sweetly putrid.
final thought
I fold up the map. The smell of freshly brewed coffee reminds me how mild our climate window has become. But the contours on the map whisper: even this tranquility is only temporary. Beneath the city streets, traces of a frozen past may lie, barely a spade's depth away. The Ice Age Map reminds us that change is normal—and that today we have a rare opportunity to consciously embrace it.
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