Nature Axis

Disasters & climate cluster →

Würm Glaciation

115000 BCE

Historical illustration: Würm Glaciation
Historical illustration: Würm Glaciation

Last major glacial period in Europe.

Historical Context

During the Late Pleistocene, the Earth experienced cycles of glacial and interglacial eras governed by Milankovitch cycles (Earth's orbit and tilt).

The Event

The Würm Glaciation began about 115,000 years ago, peaking around 20,000 BCE. Northern Eurasia and America were covered by kilometer-thick ice sheets; global sea levels dropped by 120 meters.

Key Figures

Homo neanderthalensis (adapted to cold Europe), Homo sapiens (arrived in Europe ~40,000 BCE), Milutin Milankovitch (climate theorist).

Aftermath

Lower sea levels created land bridges (Beringia, Doggerland) allowing humans to colonize America and Australia. Environmental pressure stimulated technological innovation (clothing, fire).

Legacy & Culture

The end of this ice age (Holocene, ~11,000 BCE) offered a stable, mild climate that enabled the invention of agriculture and sedentism, the foundations of our civilizations.

Historiography

Modern paleoclimatology uses Greenland ice cores to demonstrate the unprecedented brutality of past climate changes (Dansgaard-Oeschger events).

Sources and References

ARCHEOLOGY

Carottes de glace du Groenland (projet GRIP/GISP)

ARCHEOLOGY

Dépôts morainiques dans les Alpes

LITERATURE

Dansgaard et al., Événements de Dansgaard-Oeschger

Reliability index : ★★★★ ★

Semantic cluster

Disasters & climate cluster

Extinctions, ice ages, eruptions, pandemics: deep time reframing history.

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