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What Was The Last Ice Age Actually Like?

A glimpse of an intriguing part of our past

Grant Piper
5 min readFeb 17, 2023
Photo by Alberto Restifo on Unsplash

The evidence for the last Ice Age is all around us. From boulders in New England to glacier-carved lakes in Canada, there are signs that point to a time when the Earth was much colder than it is now. The Ice Age is so intriguing because it occurred just before the start of recorded human history. That puts it just out of view in terms of human records. There are no written records describing what the Ice Age was like. There are some potential remnants from the Ice Age lurking deep in human history, such as the prevalence of flood myths in human culture. But there are no actual descriptions of the event or life during the Last Glacial Period.

So what was the Ice Age actually like? Was the world a snowball covered in ice? Was it dark and cold?

When Was The Last Ice Age?

The last Ice Age, or the Last Glacial Period as scientists call it, began 115,000 years ago and lasted roughly 100,000 years, ending roughly around 10,000 BCE. The end of the previous Ice Age corresponded with the rapid rise of humanity.

What Was The Earth Like During The Ice Age?

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Grant Piper
Grant Piper

Written by Grant Piper

Professional writer. Amateur historian. Husband, father, Christian.

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