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00:00The last ice age was one that profoundly shaped Earth's history. It was a period of dramatic
00:05climate shifts, resulting in vast ice sheets, and a world that was dominated by megafauna.
00:12Thankfully for our particular species, our homo sapien ancestors were able to devise
00:17the tools needed to survive the harsh and long mega-winter. But how different would
00:22things be now, if this intense era of cold had never come to fruition? This is Unveiled,
00:29and today we're answering the extraordinary question, what if the ice age never happened?
00:35Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to
00:40Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:46An ice age is defined as a period of significantly reduced temperatures on our planet's surface and
00:52in its atmosphere. They have the potential to last for millions of years at a time. In total,
00:57there have been at least five major ice ages in Earth's past. Which, coincidentally, is the same
01:03number of blockbuster movies there are in the main series of the animated ice age franchise,
01:08but perhaps it's best not to use those films as a reliable source on what really happened.
01:12In order, the five major ice ages in reality were the Huronian, Cryogenian, Andean Saharan,
01:19the Karoo, and the Pleistocene. The Huronian, the first, happened roughly 2.4 to 2.1 billion years
01:26ago. At this stage, only single-celled life existed on the planet. Things could just about
01:32photosynthesize… but other than that, there wasn't much going on. Earth was a cold but also
01:37quiet place during a time that, for context, was roughly two billion years before the first
01:42dinosaurs appeared. The Cryogenian, the second ice age, is thought to have been by far the most
01:48extreme… so much so that it's commonly referred to as the Snowball Earth Period. This was between
01:54720 and 635 million years ago, and it was so intensely cold back then that the globe's entire
02:01surface may have been covered in ice. There is a debate as to exactly what the conditions were,
02:06with some scientists preferring to term it the Slushball Earth, believing that there was at
02:10least a thin layer of liquid water in places… but either way, there's no doubt that the Cryogenian
02:16was brutal, especially as it arrived following a long period of tectonic and climate stability
02:21on Earth. An era that's colloquially known as the Boring Billion, between 1.8 and 0.8 billion
02:28years ago. More often than not, though, whenever we speak of the ice age, we mean the Pleistocene,
02:34or the last ice age… and this is the one we're going to focus on with today's title question.
02:39What if the Pleistocene, in particular, had never happened? Again, it comes fifth on the timeline of
02:45major ice age events, and is the most recent, starting 2.6 million years ago and ending only
02:5111,700 years ago. We know that the very earliest humans came into existence roughly two million
02:57years ago, which means that the majority of our species' lifetime has played out during the
03:02Pleistocene. It's a stretch of time that's often misunderstood, however. For one, Earth wasn't
03:07always a complete frozen wasteland for the two and a half million years that it lasted. Instead,
03:12the Pleistocene, as with many ice ages, was characterized by repeated glaciations, with
03:18warmer interglacial periods in between. Heating and cooling was a global cycle and climate pattern.
03:24At the height of the glaciations, though, we know that vast ice sheets certainly did appear.
03:29The last glacial maximum, or LGM, happened around 20,000 years ago. Temperatures worldwide were
03:35approximately 11 degrees Fahrenheit below today's average, and ice covered most of North America,
03:41Europe, and Asia. Significantly, the shifting conditions, including lower sea levels,
03:47created land bridges, which allowed humans at the time to migrate across the world map.
03:52The Bering Land Bridge linked Europe and Asia to the Americas. Another was Doggerland,
03:57a landmass that once connected the British Isles to the European continent. In general,
04:02the layout of Earth was significantly different. Clearly, then, the last ice age was a part of
04:07Earth's story that played a crucial role in our species' evolution, largely because it enabled
04:12global migration and travel. Before the ice of that time melted and the waters rose, there were
04:17various key geographical connections that are now lost. But, nevertheless, those connections were
04:22crucial in how we were able to spread and settle as we did. Alongside this, our ancient ancestors
04:28constantly needed to adapt to the diverse environments of the time, which also had an
04:33impact on how we developed. The advent and widespread use of clothing for warmth, learning
04:38to utilise fire, changing our diets in response to the conditions, building complex shelters to
04:44protect against the elements… these were all social, cultural, and technological innovations
04:49that came about thanks to the last ice age. With the world then being dominated by megafauna,
04:55such as mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses, we had to develop new tools and weapons for hunting,
05:00as well. This was another important chapter that, in time, led to humans ascending the food chain
05:06and gaining mastery over and territory from other animals. Significant cultural developments were
05:12also made, with cave art, sculptures, and symbolic objects being widely crafted for the first time
05:17in history. This kind of artistic, abstract expression indicates, too, that important
05:23steps were being made during the ice age with regards to the development of language and to
05:27the establishment of culturally unique societies. It's no exaggeration to say, then, that without
05:33the last ice age, today's world would look very different. Our climate would no doubt have shifted
05:38in other ways, and it would potentially be significantly warmer right now. Although they
05:43are melting, our polar regions and high-altitude areas are still icy at present. But had we skipped
05:49the Pleistocene, then those kinds of landscapes probably wouldn't exist. Sea levels would also,
05:54indeed, be higher. The land upon which the coastal cities of today stand wouldn't be there.
05:59Many of modern Earth's islands would be covered into nothingness by the ocean. Clearly, then,
06:04those bridges that have already disappeared below the water would never have existed, either. Which
06:09means that humans would never have travelled across them, and perhaps would never have arrived
06:13in the Americas, for instance, at all. The same could be said for Britain, parts of Southeast Asia,
06:18and Japan. For Australia, and parts of Oceania. All of which were also, at one time,
06:24connected up differently thanks to bridges made possible by the ice age. Different routes would
06:29need to have been taken to reach all of them, which may have significantly delayed the human story.
06:34Elsewhere, temperate and polar species, in general, would likely be less common, too,
06:39were the ice age to be removed. Tropical and subtropical species would dominate instead,
06:44in a world without the many restrictions of extreme cold. Large mammals, including the
06:49likes of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and saber-toothed cats, may never have existed.
06:54Different kinds of megafauna will have evolved to fill their ecological roles and gaps.
06:59You can also switch the icy and rocky tundras of now for forests and grasslands. We already
07:05have evidence that this is what happens, via fossils discovered in Antarctica which indicate
07:10that it was a lush forest before the last ice age took hold. Perhaps, then, while humans may
07:15have struggled to make it to the Americas without the ice age, we would have found it easier to
07:20venture into Antarctica, which is another example of how intertwined with the ice age our history
07:25is. All of which means that we know we have a lot to thank the last ice age for. Or, at least,
07:31there's a lot about us and our world that we can explain in light of how the ice age unfolded.
07:37From our cultural spread to our technological growth, from our reliance on shelter to our
07:42wearing of clothes, it's all rooted in that last great glacial stretch. Then again, it might be
07:48argued that the last ice age only really served to slow us down. For example, agricultural
07:55development only really began to happen during the warm period at the end of and after the ice
08:00age. This could mean that without the Pleistocene, we may have transitioned from hunter-gatherers to
08:05farming societies at a much earlier point. Which, in turn, could mean that our towns and cities,
08:11while advanced today, may have moved at an even greater pace, had humans evolved to settle in
08:17one place at an earlier time. Ultimately, without a time machine to go back, and without some other
08:23kind of mythical, mystical, impossible contraption to stop the ice age from happening when we get
08:29there, there's no telling exactly how this alternate history would have taken shape.
08:34But, it's a sure bet that the trajectory of humankind, and of life in general,
08:39would have veered off in all new directions. Which means that every single one of us may
08:45have turned out completely differently as well. What do you think? Is there anything we missed?
08:50Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled,
08:54and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.