The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
We are not without evidence, also, of a much more severe climate.
In a lignite bed (a species of coal) found in nearly the same
latitude as the forest growth just mentioned, we detect the
presence of trees that grow only in cold northern climates, such
as birch, mountain pine, larch, and spruce.18 And in some
peat-bogs of Southern Europe belonging to this age19 are found
willows now growing only in Spitzbergen, and some species of
mosses that only thrive far to the north. It is quite evident
that this deposit testifies to an altogether different climate
from that indicated by the deposit before mentioned. No theory of
migration can explain this assemblage of plants, unless it be
migration taking place very slowly, in consequence of an equally
slow change of climate.
From what we have just learned of the animals and plants living
in Europe during this age, we can frame some conception of the
different climatic conditions of Europe. On the one hand, we have
a country with a mild and genial climate. Trees of a warm
latitude were then growing as far north as Paris, and we may well
suppose Europe to have abounded in shady forests and grassy
plains, through which flowed large rivers. It was just such a
country as that in which elephants and southern animals would
flourish, while vast herds of deer and bovine animals wandered
over the entire length and breadth of the land. Where animal life
was so abundant there were sure to be carnivorous animals also,
and lions, hyenas, tigers, and other animals added to the variety
of animal life.
This, however, is but one side of the picture. The other presents
us with a very different scene; instead of an abundant forest
growth, the land supported only dwarf birch, arctic willows, and
stunted mosses. Arctic animals, such as musk-sheep and reindeer,
lived all the year around in Southern France. The woolly mammoth
lived in Spain and Italy. In short, the climate and conditions of
life were vastly different in the two stages.
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