JD Adams of SalemNews.com writes a well researched, and well referenced article tying together several aspects of the Pleistocene Epoch, including geology, jaw bones and the Gigantopithecus.
(SALEM, Ore.) - The Pleistocene Epoch spans a time from 2.6 million years ago to the end of the last Ice Age at 12,000 years Before Present. It is an immensely interesting period because of the existence of legendary, enigmatic creatures and people.
We shall discuss the mysterious disappearance of the Pleistocene Megafauna, the changes wrought by Ice Ages, the massive Missoula Floods that scoured Oregon and Washington, how a meteor impact changed evolutionary history, and how the interaction of ancient human species with the towering Gigantopithecus, the largest primate ever to live on Earth, relates to our modern legend of Bigfoot.
Human history corresponds roughly to the Pleistocene and is known as the Paleolithic Era. It is initially characterized by the use of tools made of stone, wood, or bone, advancing to more complex tools used in agriculture.
The migration of humans out of Africa and into Asia, and subsequently into the North American continent, is thought to have been a contributing factor to the extinction of the large animals known as the Pleistocene Megafauna.
During the last Ice Age, the lowering of the sea level created the Bering Land Bridge between what is now Siberia and Alaska. Paleolithic hunters brought their skills and techniques over from Asia, confronting a world of mammoths and mastodons, saber-toothed cats, and the giant bear arctodus simus, the largest North American carnivore, standing over 11 ft. on their back legs.
These great beasts were examples of extreme adaptation, evolving exotic forms in the fertile land that lay south of the glaciers. During this time period, there is volcanic upheaval while glaciers recede and advance, shaping a constantly changing landscape of lakes and streams in valleys where giant bison and ground sloths grazed.
These variations in climate would have severely stressed the Megafauna by altering food sources and locations. On other continents, the timetable for extinctions was somewhat different, but ultimately resulted in the proliferation of the smaller, smarter, more versatile animals similar to what we see today.
Ice sheets covered large areas of the northern United States during the Pleistocene Epoch, including northern Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The release of an ice dam backing up a glacial lake flooded the Willamette Valley 400 feet deep!
The raging torrent swept down the Columbia River drainage, permanently altering the landscape in the most significant event of its kind ever recorded in geologic history.
Roughly 15,000 years ago, glacial ice grew southward into northern Idaho to block the Clark Fork River, creating 200-mile long Glacial Lake Missoula in western Montana. As the level of the lake increased, it eventually worked its way under and around the obstruction.
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