During the Wisconsin glaciation, glaciers extended south into present-day California.
The Wisconsin glaciation (also known as the Devensian, Midlandian, Würm, and Weichsel glaciation in different areas of the world) was the last Ice Age, during which glaciers spread south to present-day California, New York, France, Germany, and Poland. Most of Europe was frozen or steppe tundra, just as Siberia is today.
The Wisconsin glacial advance began about 70,000 years ago, reaching its maximum extent 18,000 years ago, before receding. While there have been numerous Ice Ages over the last few million years, the Wisconsin glaciation is what is generally referred to when people say “Ice Age” because it is the most recent, carved into many modern geological features (particularly in the southern hemisphere) .north), and most affected human evolution and culture.
The Baltic Sea was created entirely as a side effect of the Wisconsin glaciation.
Due to successive ice ages, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly which ice age had an effect on which geological feature, but extensive research has been able to piece together. There are countless valleys in North America, Europe, and Asia that were formed by glaciation. They often feature large exposed areas of granite, cut and ground by the immense pressure of ancient glaciers.
The Baltic Sea in northern Europe was created entirely as a side effect of the Wisconsin glaciation, a product of melting glaciers. That is why the Baltic Sea is the world’s largest sea filled with brackish water, and its bottom has been excavated by glacial erosion. “Brackish” means that the water is saltier than fresh water, but less salty than the oceans. The Baltic Sea is very unusual in that its surface water is fresh, but its deep water is salty, and different species occupy each layer.
During the Wisconsin glaciation, humans survived frozen areas by wearing animal skins and enjoying fire as much as possible. Like the Eskimos today, humans can adapt to extremely cold environments and have the basic technology to do so. Metallurgy had not yet developed, so flint was the main raw material for industry. Homo sapiens moved into the frozen regions around 40,000 years ago when we colonized Eurasia and Oceania. Humans lived alongside Neanderthals for about 15,000 years, until Neanderthals became extinct between 33,000 and 24,000 years ago. Humans may be responsible for this extinction.