THE TUNDRAS AND STEPPES OF PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 1 



By Prof. James Geikie, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. 



(With map.) 



We are all familiar with the general conclusion arrived at by geologists 

 that our earth has experienced many climatic changes. There have 

 been times when genial conditions ranged up to the highest latitudes, 

 and times also when the cold of the arctic regions descended to what 

 is now our temperate zone. Tbe cause or causes of those remark- 

 able vicissitudes still baffle research. Many explanations have been 

 advanced — some highly improbable, others perhaps- more likely, while 

 of yet others it may be said that possibly they contain a certain amount 

 of truth. But no one theory or hypothesis has succeeded iu gaining 

 general assent, and we shall not therefore at present concern ourselves 

 with any. In place of reviewing hypotheses and speculations, I shall 

 limit myself to a survey of certain facts connected with the later geo- 

 logical history of our continent, the meaning of which is more or less 

 apparent. The evidence referred to leads to the conclusion that Middle 

 Europe has within the human period experienced conditions such, as 

 now obtain in the tundras and barren grounds of circumpolar regions. 

 When these conditions passed away, the central and west-central 

 areas of our continent became steppe lands, comparable as regards 

 climate to the subarctic steppes of southeast Russia and southwest 

 Siberia. 



As geologists reason from the present to the past, it will be well to 

 take first a brief glance at those regions of the globe where at present 

 tundra and steppe conditions respectively prevail. When we have 

 realized the salient characters of those regions, and the nature of their 

 floras and faunas, we shall be in a better position to understand the 

 bearing of the geological evidence. 



1 A lecture delivered before the Royal Dublin Society, March 9, 1898. Those inter- 

 ested in the subject of this lecture will find it fully discussed by Professor Nebring 

 in his work Ueber Tundren und Steppen. See also, for further information and 

 for references to other authorities, The Great Ice Age, Chapter XXXVIII. Reprinted 

 from The Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. XIV, Nos. 6 and 7, June and July, 

 1898, pp. 281-357. 



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