The Ice Age: Climate, Life, and Human Perspectives
The Ice Age, more accurately termed the Pleistocene epoch (c. 2.6 million–11,700 years ago), was a period marked by repeated glaciations and dramatic climatic shifts. It shaped Earth’s landscapes, ecosystems, and species, including humans. In Victoria and across Australia, evidence of Ice Age conditions can be traced in megafauna extinctions, sea-level changes, and Aboriginal oral traditions that preserve memories of ancient environments. This article explores the science of the Ice Age, its global and Australian impacts, Indigenous perspectives, and the psychology and cultural meaning attached to the idea of a frozen world.
Scientific understanding of the Ice Age
Climatic cycles
The Ice Age was driven by variations in Earth’s orbit and tilt (Milankovitch cycles), which altered the distribution of solar energy and caused cycles of glacial advance and retreat (Imbrie & Imbrie 1979).
During glacial maxima, ice sheets up to 3 km thick covered much of North America, northern Europe, and Asia. Interglacial periods, like the one we live in now (Holocene), brought warmer climates and retreating glaciers.
Global impacts
Sea levels: At the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 20,000 years ago), sea levels were more than 100 metres lower than today. Land bridges connected continents such as Asia and Australia (Birdsell 1977).
Ecology: Grasslands expanded, deserts shifted, and ecosystems adapted to colder, drier climates.
Humans: Homo sapiens survived and expanded during the Ice Age, coexisting with and outlasting Neanderthals and Denisovans. Stone tools, fire use, and symbolic art flourished.
The Ice Age in Australia and Victoria
Climate and geography
Although massive ice sheets did not cover Australia, the Ice Age brought colder, drier conditions. Glaciers formed in the Australian Alps and Tasmania. In Victoria, periglacial features such as block streams in the highlands show evidence of cold-climate processes.
Lower sea levels connected Tasmania to the mainland, forming a land bridge across Bass Strait. This enabled Aboriginal communities to move between areas that are now separated by ocean (Lambeck & Chappell 2001).
Megafauna extinctions
Australia’s giant animals—megafauna—dominated Ice Age landscapes. They included:
Diprotodon optatum (giant wombat-like herbivore, up to 4 tonnes).
Genyornis newtoni (giant flightless bird).
Thylacoleo carnifex (marsupial “lion,” a powerful predator).
By around 40,000 years ago, most megafauna were extinct. Scientists debate whether climate change, human hunting, or a combination caused their demise (Roberts et al. 2001).
Aboriginal communities
Aboriginal Australians lived through the Ice Age, having arrived on the continent at least 65,000 years ago. Archaeological sites in Victoria, such as Keilor and Lake Mungo (NSW), show continuous occupation through changing climates. Oral traditions describe rising seas, droughts, and changing animals—likely preserving cultural memory of Ice Age environmental shifts (Nunn & Reid 2016).
Indigenous and global cultural perspectives
Aboriginal perspectives
Stories from coastal Victoria and Tasmania describe ancestral lands now under the sea, consistent with sea-level rise after the Ice Age.
Traditions of giant ancestral animals may reflect cultural memory of megafauna.
Fire-stick farming (controlled burning) was used to adapt landscapes for hunting and gathering in changing climates.
Global Indigenous perspectives
North America: First Nations oral traditions describe glaciers, giant mammals, and migrations, aligning with Ice Age landscapes.
Europe: Cave art at sites such as Lascaux (France) and Altamira (Spain) depicted Ice Age animals like mammoths and bison, blending survival knowledge with symbolic meaning.
Siberia: Indigenous Siberians preserved stories of “mammoth bones” emerging from permafrost, long before modern paleontology.
Psychology and cultural meaning of the Ice Age
The Ice Age continues to shape collective imagination:
Survival psychology: Human resilience during extreme cold highlights adaptability, community cooperation, and innovation.
Myth and memory: Stories of frozen lands and giants embody fears of scarcity and extinction, but also triumph over adversity.
Modern fascination: The Ice Age has inspired films, novels, and climate anxieties, functioning as both science and metaphor. Cold epochs are seen as thresholds between destruction and renewal.
Psychologists argue that cultural memory of harsh environments may linger in myths, embedding survival lessons into identity (Assmann 2011).
Conclusion
The Ice Age was a defining chapter in Earth’s history, shaping landscapes, species, and human societies. In Victoria and Australia, its legacy is visible in megafauna extinctions, archaeological records, and Aboriginal traditions that preserve memory of rising seas and shifting lands. Globally, the Ice Age influenced human evolution, cultural expression, and collective imagination. Scientific and Indigenous perspectives together reveal a history not only of climate and extinction but also of resilience, adaptation, and storytelling.
References
Assmann, J. (2011) Cultural Memory and Early Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Birdsell, J. (1977) The Recalibration of a Paradigm for the First Peopling of Greater Australia. Canberra: ANU.
Broome, R. (2005) Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Imbrie, J. and Imbrie, K. P. (1979) Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lambeck, K. and Chappell, J. (2001) ‘Sea level change through the last glacial cycle’, Science, 292(5517), pp. 679–686.
Nunn, P. and Reid, N. (2016) ‘Aboriginal memories of inundation of the Australian coast dating from more than 7,000 years ago’, Australian Geographer, 47(1), pp. 11–47.
Roberts, R. G. et al. (2001) ‘New ages for the last Australian megafauna: Continent-wide extinction about 46,000 years ago’, Science, 292(5523), pp. 1888–1892.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.