| | CLIMATE
Out of the Ice Age
Early people migrated to the Americas during a period of great climate change. The Pleistocene Geologic Epoch, a 1.8 million-year period of global cooling and ice ages, was ending. Temperatures were warming, the glaciers to the north were melting quickly, and the Earth was transitioning into the Holocene, or Modern Epoch. The changing climate was reshaping the environment and the lives of the people who came here.
 Was the climate in Idaho like today's Bering Land Bridge?
Although the climate was warming, 10,000 years ago southern Idaho was still cooler and wetter than it is today. Average temperatures were about 20 percent cooler than today and the area received about 50 percent more snow and rainfall. The environment near Wilson Butte Cave was still relatively dry, but more water was probably available for people and animals.
How Was Southern Idaho Different 10,000 Years Ago?
Find out how what plant and animal life existed. 
Paleoindians hunting an American Camel in the Great Basin. | |
Timeline Ice Sheet (gray zone) & Vegetation
Links to larger maps below.
 Enlarged maps 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Map Legend: Note: Idaho evolves from temperate woodland to temperate semi-desert. |
