An ice age is a long period of global cooling that includes one or more glaciations, when glaciers expand across the land. As ice sheets grew, they stored water that would otherwise have been in the oceans, so sea levels fell. At the height of the most recent glaciation, ice sheets covered large areas around the North Pole and extended across parts of present-day Russia, Scandinavia, the British Isles, Greenland, Canada, and the northern United States.
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What is an ice age?
A long period of global cooling that includes one or more periods of glaciation.
What happens during a glaciation?
Glaciers grow and spread across land, storing water as ice and often lowering sea levels.
How did low sea levels affect human movement?
They exposed land that could serve as migration routes, including routes into parts of Asia, Australia, and North America.
How did early humans make fitted clothing?
They used needles made from bone, wood, or ivory and thread from animal remains or wild flax to sew animal hides.
What does Ötzi's clothing illustrate?
It shows how people used locally available hides, fibers, and other materials to make practical clothing for cold conditions.
Quiz questions
About when did the most recent glaciation reach its peak?Answer: About 18,000 years ago.
How did people first reach North America from Siberia during periods of low sea level?Answer: They crossed exposed land in the region of the Bering Strait.
Why might a Paleolithic group split and move to another area?Answer: A larger group could use up the resources available nearby.
What can objects placed in Paleolithic graves reasonably suggest?Answer: The dead were treated with care, though exact beliefs remain uncertain.
Why are present-day hunter-gatherer societies not exact replicas of Paleolithic communities?Answer: They have their own histories and have interacted with modern societies.
Based on World History Volume 1, to 1500 by Ann Kordas, Ryan J. Lynch, Brooke Nelson, Julie Tatlock (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.