Viola T. Dobosi: Paleolithic Man in the Által-ér Valley (Tata, 1999)

The time span: Ice Age During the more than 4.5 milliard years of the history of our planet there were several periods of lasting great changes in the climate. They appeared typically as deterioration (cooling) compared to the average temperature and these long-term climatic fluctuations are termed together as Ice Ages. In the long and inspiring debates concerning the formation several opinions were raised and the accepted main cause is wavering between them. It seems, however, certain that the basic cause is rooted in the rhythmic change of celestial/astronomic, therefore regular and calculable conditions. The most important among them is the modification of the elements regulating the Earth's course (the relation of the axis of rotation to the plane of the Earth's course, the elongated or circular form of the elliptical course around the Sun and the alternation of the angle between the orbital plane of the Earth and a theoretical vertical plane). These factors initiate a process the details of which are hidden; we know only the final results and even that, only partly. Due to several known and unknown reasons sometimes this, sometimes that factor of the complex process seemed to be of decisive influence (e.g., surface morphology of the Earth, distance from large water surfaces equalising the climate, elevation above sea level, being exposed or protected from ruling wind etc.). The long-term changes of the climate, however, caused permanent changes in both organic and inorganic nature, a large part of which resulting in evidence which can be studied by scientific methods. One of these evidences is pollen. These most resistant microscopic plant particles can be preserved, provided the circumstances are favourable, in large quantities within the sediment. The levels of soil samples reflect contemporary vegetation and the ratio of alternating species can give information on climate and its changes. The Ice Age was described by the palinologist Magda JáraiKomlódi the following way (Kukoricaisten gyermekei [Children of the Maize God]. Budapest 1984, 48.): „ We know well that the climate of our Earth became much colder several times during the past 3 million years (for the last time, some 20-30 thousand years ago), and for thousand s of years, much colder winters dominated over the Northern Temperate Zone than today. The water evaporated from the sea and the ocean transformed to snow-bearing clouds, and great snow-storms would drift over the continents. The ever increasing cover of snow stiffened under the great pressure into a sheet of ice. The ice cover of the 10