A 40-meter ice core extracted from the Dôme du Goûter glacier on Mont Blanc unlocks Europe’s climatic narrative from the dawn of agriculture to industrialization. Collected in 1999 and preserved by France’s National Scientific Research Centre for over two decades, the core was recently analyzed at Nevada’s Desert Research Institute (DRI), confirming it as Europe’s first ice record stretching back to the last ice age. The findings appear in *PNAS Nexus*.
“For the first time, we possess a near-complete Alpine record of atmospheric chemistry and precipitation dating to the Mesolithic era,” stated DRI ice core lab director Joe McConnell. “This captures two key climatic states—glacial and interglacial—revealing extreme natural aerosol concentrations during this massive transition. Human evolution is also documented here: from sparse hunter-gatherers to agriculture, animal domestication, mining, and later population surges and deforestation.”
Analysis revealed a 3°C temperature gap between the last ice age and the current Holocene epoch, with summer temperatures in Western Europe 2°C colder during the glacial period and up to 3.5°C colder in the Alps. Phosphorus levels traced post-ice age forest expansion and subsequent decline due to farming and industrialization. Sea salt deposits indicated stronger westerly winds off Western Europe during the ice age, while Saharan dust concentrations were eight times higher than in the Holocene—both critical factors for regional climate impacts.
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