120 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. v. 



Africa. During the period of maximum cold, the 

 glaciers of Auvergne joined those of the Jura, in the 

 valley of the Khone, and those of the Alps extended far 

 down into Lombardy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. 

 From the Pyrenees, also, glaciers found their way as far 

 as Toulouse, and from the snowy tops of the Atlas and 

 of the Lebanon they descended to the level of 6000 feet, 

 and from the mountains of Lazistan to that of 4500 feet 

 above the sea. 1 



This period of maximum cold in the south of Europe 

 coincided with a period of high elevation, in which the 

 Mediterranean area was lifted up not less than 2400 

 feet above the sea, so as to allow of Europe joining 

 Africa by way of Gibraltar and of Sicily and Malta, as 

 we have seen in this chapter. The Alps also, at the 

 beginning of the Pleistocene, according to Professor 

 Gastaldi, stood 1312 feet higher than they were in the 

 Pleiocene age. 2 



Variation of Climate in the Alps. 



These climatal changes are traceable in the Alps by 

 the advance and retreat of the glaciers, and in some 

 Alpine districts there is evidence of a reversion to a tem- 

 perate climate. On the borders of the lake of Zurich, 

 for example at Utznach and Diirnten, a bed of lignite 

 intercalated between two glacial accumulations proves 

 that a forest occupied the same tract of ground which 

 before and after was covered by a glacier. 3 



1 See Dawkins' Cave-hunting, p. 382 et seq. 



2 Atti della Eeale Accademia delle Scienze de Torino, vol. x. 21. 



3 Heer, Primeval World in Switzerland, ii. p. 149 



