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14
Mar
When wolverines roamed the land - North Yorkshire 80,000 years ago
In February, an incredibly well-preserved prehistoric wolverine jaw was unearthed at Stump Cross Caverns.
By dating the stalagmites that encased the fossil, scientists estimated the bones were around 80,000 years old.
Wolverines no longer exist in Britain, having gone extinct around 20,000 years ago. Part of the weasel family, they survive today only in cold regions such as Canada and Scandinavia.
Their presence raises an intriguing question: what did North Yorkshire look like 80,000 years ago to support such wildlife?
The wolverine jawbone discovered at Stump Cross Caverns. Picture: Stump Cross Caverns, Tom Thompson, James Smith, Dave Headley.
A changing Ice Age landscape
Eighty thousand years ago, the world was entering the last Ice Age.
Although colder than today, the climate may not have been at its most extreme.
For thousands of years, Britain’s environment swung between cold tundra conditions and severe glacial periods dominated by ice sheets.
Scientists believe Britain was in one of the milder phases around 80,000 years ago.
80,000 years ago, the landscape may have looked similar to this modern polar tundra environment. Picture: Carol M Highsmith on rawpixel.com
Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Professor Danielle Schreve, a palaeoecologist at the University of Bristol, described what the landscape might have looked like:
If you stood in North Yorkshire, you’d have seen a relatively open, grass-dominated landscape — a steppe-like tundra with trees. These environments were far richer than modern tundra, supporting large herds of herbivores and a wide range of plants. We find pine trees, but there are also records of oak. It would have looked more like a Scandinavian boreal forest.
She suggested the closest modern comparison might be Sweden.
Whilst some of the landscape would have looked like this modern boreal forest, most of it was vast, open grassland. Picture: Orcaborealis on Wikimedia
Glaciated or not?
Snowfall would have been common, but Professor Schreve suggests Britain was not heavily glaciated at this point.
One clue lies in sea levels.
During the coldest glacial phases, vast ice sheets trap water on land, causing sea levels to fall. When this happened, Britain became connected to mainland Europe by a land bridge known as Doggerland.
However, fossil evidence suggests Doggerland was underwater around 80,000 years ago.
Professor Schreve said:
It’s actually been suggested that Britain was an island at this time. We know what the fauna was like 80,000 years ago, and it doesn’t look anything like what we find on the continent in Europe.
The difference in animal remains between Britain and mainland Europe suggests the two were separated by water.
Cold-adapted species may have crossed the land bridge during an earlier colder phase, around 90,000 years ago, before becoming isolated when sea levels rose again.
North Yorkshire would have seen large herds of reindeer and bison pass through it during the warmer months. Picture: ChatGPT
Not everyone agrees entirely.
Dr Phil Murphy, associate professor of geoscience and environmental education at the University of Leeds, believes ice was likely present in Yorkshire itself. He said:
Most research on Ice Age animals is done in the south of England, which was beyond the ice limit. Things were very cold, but the furthest ice ever got was roughly the Thames–Bristol line.
Dr Murphy notes that some fossils found in southern England — including bears — have not been discovered in the North.
That could mean glacial flows destroyed evidence in northern regions, or that conditions there were simply too harsh for some species.
The most likely explanation is somewhere in between. Northern Britain was probably colder than the South, with seasonal ice or local glaciers, but not enough permanent ice to dramatically lower sea levels.
Seasonality likely shaped the landscape.
During milder months, tundra vegetation would have emerged as snow retreated.
In winter, however, temperatures may have dropped to −15°C or lower, leaving the region blanketed in snow and ice.
Dr Murphy compared the winter environment to the edge of Greenland today.
The East Coast of Greenland. Picture: Michael Haferkamp on Wikimedia
Scientists are also studying the migratory patterns of reindeer to better understand this seasonal cycle.
“The landscapes up in the north are usually only hospitable and have grazing for short spring to summer periods,” Professor Schreve said. “Then the reindeer tend to move down south. These animals can’t survive standing on a glacier — they need huge amounts of fodder and fresh water.”
Life in Ice Age Yorkshire
Despite the harsh climate, North Yorkshire still supported a wide range of cold-adapted animals.
If you hiked through the region 80,000 years ago, you might have encountered herds of reindeer and bison grazing across the open tundra.
Arctic foxes, tundra voles, wolves and wolverines would also have roamed the landscape — though getting too close may have cost you a few fingers.
Fossils from southern England show that arctic hares and enormous brown bears — larger than modern polar bears — also lived in Britain during this period, although none have yet been found in the north.
Their absence may simply be because glacial activity destroyed the evidence.
Some iconic Ice Age animals were missing, however.
Despite their reputation as symbols of the period, mammoths and woolly rhinos appear to have been absent from Britain around 80,000 years ago. Fossils have been found from earlier and later periods, but not from this particular time.
This is a depiction of Ice Age Spain. While most of the animals depicted would not have existed in Britain 80,000 years ago, it is a decent indication of the environment we might have seen in the summer months. Picture: Mauricio Antón on Wikimedia
The climate had changed dramatically before. Around 125,000 years ago, during a much warmer phase, Yorkshire supported animals more associated with Africa today — including hippos, elephants, hyenas and cave lions.
Humans also moved in and out of Britain depending on the climate.
Neanderthals occupied the region intermittently between about 200,000 and 40,000 years ago.
However, there is currently no evidence of human presence in Britain around 80,000 years ago.
Likely, colder conditions forced populations to leave, and rising sea levels prevented their return until the land bridge reappeared tens of thousands of years later.
A lost world beneath North Yorkshire
So what would North Yorkshire really have looked like 80,000 years ago?
During the warmer months, the region would have been a vast, windswept tundra dotted with pine and occasional oak, alive with grazing herds of reindeer and bison.
Wolves and wolverines stalked the open plains, while arctic foxes darted between patches of scrub.
But winters would have transformed the landscape. Temperatures plunged, snow covered the ground and ice spread across the hills.
Many animals migrated south in search of food, leaving behind a quieter, harsher world of cold-adapted predators.
The wolverine jaw discovered at Stump Cross Caverns is a rare reminder of a lost Yorkshire — a time when the Dales looked less like northern England and more like the wild frontiers of Scandinavia or Canada.
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