Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago"

Andrea Picin¹, Stefano Benazzi^{1

2}, Ruth Blasco^{3

4}, Mateja Hajdinjak^{5

6}, Kristofer M Helgen⁷, Jean-Jacques Hublin^{1

8}, Jordi Rosell^{3

4}, Pontus Skoglund⁶, Chris Stringer⁹, Sahra Talamo^{1

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
² Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna 48121, Italy.
³ Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona 43007, Spain.
⁴ Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43002, Spain.
⁵ Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
⁶ Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK.
⁷ Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.
⁸ Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, Collège de France, Paris 75231, France.
⁹ CHER, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Chemistry "G. Ciamician," University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy.

PMID: 34793212
PMCID: PMC7612203
DOI: 10.1126/science.abi8330

Comment

Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago"

Andrea Picin et al. Science. 2021.

. 2021 Nov 19;374(6570):eabi8330.

doi: 10.1126/science.abi8330. Epub 2021 Nov 18.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
² Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna 48121, Italy.
³ Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona 43007, Spain.
⁴ Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43002, Spain.
⁵ Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
⁶ Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK.
⁷ Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.
⁸ Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, Collège de France, Paris 75231, France.
⁹ CHER, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Chemistry "G. Ciamician," University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy.

PMID: 34793212
PMCID: PMC7612203
DOI: 10.1126/science.abi8330

Abstract

Cooper et al. (Research Articles, 19 February 2021, p. 811) propose that the Laschamps geomagnetic inversion ~42,000 years ago drove global climatic shifts, causing major behavioral changes within prehistoric groups, as well as events of human and megafaunal extinction. Other scientific studies indicate that this proposition is unproven from the current archaeological, paleoanthropological, and genetic records.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Neanderthals and *Homo sapiens*' direct dates published before the Cooper et al. 2021 paper. Some hominins have more than one date (Spy, Goyet, Kleine Feldhofer, Vindija, Kostienki, Sungir, Peştera Mureii, Mladeč and Bacho Kiro), and are merged together in one single line in the graph. The calibrated ranges are produced using IntCal 20 in the OxCal 4.4 program (P. J. Reimer *et al*., The INTCAL20 northern hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). *Radiocarbon*, 1-33 (2020); C. B. Ramsey, Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. *Radiocarbon* 51, 337-360 (2009)).

See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Response to Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago".
Cooper A, Turney CSM, Palmer J, Hogg A, McGlone M, Wilmshurst J, Lorrey AM, Heaton TJ, Russell JM, McCracken K, Anet JG, Rozanov E, Friedel M, Suter I, Peter T, Muscheler R, Adolphi F, Dosseto A, Faith JT, Fenwick P, Fogwill CJ, Hughen K, Lipson M, Liu J, Nowaczyk N, Rainsley E, Bronk Ramsey C, Sebastianelli P, Souilmi Y, Stevenson J, Thomas Z, Tobler R, Zech R. Cooper A, et al. Science. 2021 Nov 19;374(6570):eabi9756. doi: 10.1126/science.abi9756. Epub 2021 Nov 18. Science. 2021. PMID: 34793203

Comment on

A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago.
Cooper A, Turney CSM, Palmer J, Hogg A, McGlone M, Wilmshurst J, Lorrey AM, Heaton TJ, Russell JM, McCracken K, Anet JG, Rozanov E, Friedel M, Suter I, Peter T, Muscheler R, Adolphi F, Dosseto A, Faith JT, Fenwick P, Fogwill CJ, Hughen K, Lipson M, Liu J, Nowaczyk N, Rainsley E, Bronk Ramsey C, Sebastianelli P, Souilmi Y, Stevenson J, Thomas Z, Tobler R, Zech R. Cooper A, et al. Science. 2021 Feb 19;371(6531):811-818. doi: 10.1126/science.abb8677. Science. 2021. PMID: 33602851

References

1. Cooper A, et al. A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago. Science. 2021;371:811–818. - PubMed
1. Channell JET, Singer BS, Jicha BR. Timing of Quaternary geomagnetic reversals and excursions in volcanic and sedimentary archives. Quaternary Sci Rev. 2020;228:106114
1. Osete M-L, et al. The Blake geomagnetic excursion recorded in a radiometrically dated speleothem. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2012;353–354:173–181.
1. Wolff EW, Chappellaz J, Blunier T, Rasmussen SO, Svensson A. Millennial-scale variability during the last glacial: The ice core record. Quaternary Sci Rev. 2010;29:2828–2838.
1. Hocknull SA, et al. Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration. Nature Communications. 2020;11:2250 - PMC - PubMed

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Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago"

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Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago"

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