Around 13,000 years ago, a chilly Earth was thawing. It was the end of the last great ice age. Vast frozen sheets had covered much of North America, Europe and Asia for thousands of years. Now they were retreating. Giant mammals like woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats roamed the tundra and grasslands. An ancient people called the Clovis roamed North America, hunting mammoth with distinctive spears.
Then, about 12,800 years ago, something strange happened. Earth abruptly plunged back into a deep chill. Temperatures in parts of the Northern Hemisphere fell to as much as 8 degrees Celsius (almost 14.5 degrees Fahrenheit) colder than today. Then, just as abruptly, Earth once again began to warm.
The cold snap lasted only about 1,200 years. That’s a mere blip in the history of our planet. But afterward, many of the giant mammals were dying out. And signs of the Clovis people were now gone.
CREATED BY Sami ullah Saleem
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