AGE OF ni^MAN 1\\CE RICnARZ 457 



boen flotoriiiinod by cxart inotliods. Tho latter can only ho cstiinntod 

 from tho rate of rooossion found in Swodon, wliile tho (hiratioii of tho 

 stoppage must be dorivod approxiniatoly from tho moraines deposited 

 by the ico durin<r tho liaU ov tho oscilhitions of its bordor. Do Goor 

 assumes 2.500 years; addin«; those to i;},500 + 2,000 found before, his 

 final fiizure is 18,000 years; that is to say, 18,000 years a«;o the German 

 Provinces of East and AVost Prussia, Pomorania, Mocklenbur<jf-Streh- 

 lit/., and tho eastern part of Soldoswjir-JIolstoin were still oovorod 

 with mighty ice sheets. (Fig. i.) 



At a still earlier period the ico shoot reached farther south into the 

 southern part of tho Provinoe of Brandenburg and south of Poznan 

 in Poland. No data are at hand to determine the recession of the ice 

 from this area until it reached (ho Baltic liidpe. An estimate of 1.000 

 years would, however, bo in fair a<j:reement with the observations 

 made farther north. Thus, in all, the ice ben:an its retreat from 

 northern Germany about 19,000 years aijo. It must be borne in mind 

 that of this fi<;ure a little more than 15,000 years are the result of 

 precise measurement. The remainder is a conservative estimate. It 

 might well bo that tho ice stood a considerably longer time in noith- 

 ern Germany, its border alternately receding and rcadvancing. Thus 

 Ernst Antevs arrives at essentially higher figures in his recent pub- 

 lication: "In all , the uncovering of the belt between tho Great Baltic, 

 or the Pomeranian moraine, and northeastern Scania must have 

 taken many thousand years, probably 10,000 to 15,000." " Evidently 

 stich assumptions can not be definite, because they are not based on 

 the counting of clay varves. Therefore the lower figures are here 

 preferred, in order to avoid all statements which can not be proven, 

 although the higher figures may bo true or may approach the truth. 



It will be recalled that man during this last glaciation was in 

 Europe, struggling with the cold in southern France and northern 

 Spain, and as companion of the arctic animals and plants. Further- 

 more, it was shown that man was in Europe before this severe cold 

 arrived, since he was living with animals and plants requiring 

 a much warmer climate not only in southern countries but as far 

 north as Weimar in Germany. It is, of course, impossible to recon- 

 cile such a mild climate in central Europe with a glaciation and a 

 large ice sheet in noi-thorn Geimany. We must, therefore, conclude 

 that at that period northern Europe was as much free from ice as it 

 it at present, or even more so, if the indications of a higher tempera- 

 ture than to-day are reliable. With a new deterioration of the 

 climate, then, the ice again took possession of central Enropp. moving 

 slowly from Scandinavia to central Germany. 



" F.mst Antpvi. The last glaciation. Amer. Geogr. Soc, Research sorlea No. 17, New 

 York, 1028, p. 160. 



