Upper Danube, Southern Germany 27,000 BC Fisherman and hunters take heart! A warming trend has been observed in France and this spring promises a bountiful.

Upper Danube, Southern Germany27,000 BC

Fisherman and hunters take heart!A warming trend has been observed in France and this spring promises a bountiful take. The local Magdalenian folk report numerous recent sightings in coastal rivers of spawning salmon with hungry seals in hot pursuit, accompanied by mating eels and the early blooming of many plants.

Southern France15,000 BC

Upper Danube, Southern Germany27,000 BC

As the weather continues to improve the occupants of La Riera have begun to visitthe seashore where they collect limpets, periwinkles and sea urchins. The pine andbirch woodland that have now become established in the hills harbor roe deer and wild boar, which the La Rierans stalk indi-vidually using the newly invented bow and arrow.

La Riera, Northern Spain15,000 BC

Upper Danube, Southern Germany27,000 BC

Our station in northern Spain reports thatlarge bison herds form the basis for susten- ance in the region. The Magdalenian people there celebrate the bison at the cave of Altamira in art, song and dance.

Altamira, Northern Spain15,000 BC

Southern France14,000 BC

We have been receiving consistent spring-time reports from the Loire Valley in southern France for the last several years of a lusher growth of grass, earlier nestingtimes for birds, and reduced snowfall. Inresponse Magdalenian people are moving every year a kilometer or so deeper intocentral France.

Chaleux, Belgium14,000 BC

Although the northern glaciers have begunto retreat and the weather is warmer to the south, tundra-like conditions persist atChaleux Cave in Belgium, as evidenced bythe large numbers of cold-loving Arcticlemmings found there, as well as largertundra-loving animals, such as reindeerand musk ox.

13,500 BC

The climate all across Europe has begunto improve with higher temperatures. Herbs and shrubs have taken hold in the rolling hills of central Europe, and for the first time in millennia we are seeing plants such as dwarf willow and mugwort.

Europe

Mezhirich , Ukraine13,000 BC

On the eastern front hunting has beenexcellent at Mezhirich overlooking the Dnieper River. The residents there take fulladvantage of all the seasons pursuing mammoth in the winter, reindeer in the spring, and fur-bearing animals and water-fowl in summer.

Doggerand12,800 BC

The retreat of the northern glaciershas exposed the continental shelf between France and Britain and large herds of reindeer and horse have been seen grazing in the deep valley separating the Thames from theRhine.

Gough’s Cave, Southern England12,700 BC

FLASH…Improved weather has allowed humans to return to Britain for the first time in over 10,000 years. They are in pursuit of horse and reindeer across the tundra there andsome members of mtDNA haplogroup U5have encamped at Gough’s Cave in the Cheddar Gorge where they have developednew technology.

Gough’s Cave, Southern England12,690 BC

IN MEMMORIAM We mourn the passing of Erggg, our longtime reporter from southern Britain. He will be sorely missed.But we predict that thousands of years from now he will become a celebrity when his remains will be found, named Cheddar Man, and his U5 mtDNA matched to that of a local school teacher named Adrian Targett. Go Erggg!

With the recent retreat of the Scandinavianglacier thousands of reindeer have begunto use the Ahrensburg Valley for their annual migrations across the treeless tundra to winter pastures in southernSweden. Magdalenian hunters are takingeasy advantage of this predictable routeand are enjoying the excellent summerweather with temperatures reaching ashigh as 13° C.

Meiendorf, Northern Germany12,600 BC

Upper Danube, Southern Germany27,000 BC

Northern Germany12,600 BC

Well, judging by the harpoon in my hands I seem to be a totally derangedfisherman that has been distracted from spearing salmon in the river belowby a passing herd of reindeer and has run amuck trying to hunt them downwith an inappropriate bone harpoon.Magdalenian hunters actually used the bow and arrow to hunt reindeer.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

12,500 BC

The recent dramatic peak in temperature,melting of the northern glaciers and resulting sea level rise of almost 100 m isnow being called the Bølling Oscillation byour paleocasters at the Glacier Channel.

Europe

11,500 BC

After several centuries of colder weather temperatures have risen again to a peak, called the Allerød Oscillation, and with itfull woodlands of birch, poplar and pinehave penetrated northern Germany, Britain and Scandinavia.

Europe

Gönnersdorf, Central Germany11,000 BC

Upper Danube, Southern Germany27,000 BC

Gönnersdorf, Central Germany11,000 BC

Horse meat is the dietary staple of the people living at Gönnersdorf on the middle Rhine. The Gönnersdorfers are also accomplished artists and specialize inengraving images of horses and womenon slabs of slate.

Their dwellings are also quite sophisticated.They are circular, 20 to 25 feet in diameter,built with solid wooden posts and covered with sods of turf and thick hide.

Gönnersdorf, Central Germany11,000 BC

10,500 BC

Just when we thought it was safe torecolonize the northern latitudes sub-arcticconditions have descended yet again oncentral Europe in less than a decadeforcing the Magdalenians south into warmer refugia. Our paleocasters are betting the cold may last another 1000 years and are calling this the Younger Dryas period.

Europe

Upper Danube, Southern Germany27,000 BC

Gönnersdorf, Central Germany10,500 BC

The horse herds of central Europe have beendecimated by the severe cold. Gönnersdorfhas been abandoned for good.

Despite the hardships of the recent YoungerDryas glacial advance, the hunters of Stellmoor on the northern German tundrahave been very successful in the reindeerhunt. Spears have been replaced by bows and arrows tipped with distinctive tangedpoints, thus increasing tremendously theefficiency of the hunt.

Stellmoor, Northern Germany10,500 BC

Central Europe9,600 BC

Europe is experiencing a dramatic warmingtrend, which is providing the thickest covering of woodland the continent has seen for more than 100,000 years. Ourpaleocasters have proclaimed that this isthe end of Younger Dryas period and warmHolocene days are ahead.

Northern England9,600 BC

The glacial tundra is gone and thick woodlands now cover most of Britain. Forest-dwelling red deer and roe deer have replaced the migratory reindeer of thePleistocene.

Star Carr, Northern England8,600 BC

Dense forests of birch now surroundLake Pickering in northern Britain. There the Mesolithic residents of Star Carr

Doggerland8,000 BC

To the east of Star Carr, on the lowexposed continental shelf known as Doggerland, the rising sea levelhas created a rich lagoon environment,which is a magnet to waterfowl.

The Mesolithic hunters of this area have developed new technologyTaking great quantities of .

The Mesolithic hunters of this area have developed new technologyTaking great quantities of .

Doggerland7,500 BC

JUST IN FROM THE ARCTIC OCEAN…A massive sub-marine landside has occurred midway between the coast of Norway and Iceland creating an immense tidal wave. The tsunami has flooded most of the lowlands of Doggerland between Scotland and Denmark burying hundreds of Mesolithic settlements under 17,000 cubic km of sediment. The Dogger Hills are still dry but increasingly threatened by the rising sea level and advance of the newly created North Sea.

Northern Ireland7,000 BC

For the first time since the Last GlacialMaximum of 18,000 BC the glaciers haveretreated from Northern Ireland allowingmany human settlements to spring up there. At Mount Sandel in County Antrim Mesolithic hunters and foragers are living year round and eating a wide variety ofseasonal resources: wild boar, eel, hazelnuts and water lilies in the fall and winter, salmon and other fish in the spring and summer.