Humans at the End of the Ice Age chronicles and explores the significance of the variety of cultural responses to the global environmental changes at the last glacial-interglacial boundary. Contributions address the nature and consequences of the global climate changes accompanying the end of the Pleistocene epoch-detailing the nature, speed, and magnitude of the human adaptations that culminated in the development of food production in many parts of the world. The text is aided by vital maps, chronological tables, and charts.

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Introduction: The World at the End of the Last Ice Age; L.G. Straus. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Africa and the Near East: L. Straus. At the Transition: The Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in Southern Africa; P.J. Mitchell, et al. Plus Ca Change: The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Northeastern Africa; A.E. Close. The Impact of Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Climatic Changes on Humans in Southwestern Asia; O. Bar-Yosef. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Europe: B.V. Eriksen. The Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Southwest Europe; L.G. Straus. Resource Exploitation, Subsistence Strategies and Adaptiveness in Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Northwestern Europe; B.V. Eriksen. The North European Plain and Eastern Sub-Balticum between 12,000 and 8,000 B.P.; R. Schild. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition on the East European Plain; P.M. Dolukhanov. Asia and Australia during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition: J.M. Erlandson. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Greater Australia; J. Allen, P. Kershaw. Human Activities and Environmental Changes during the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene in Southern Thailand and Southeast Asia; S. Pookajorn. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Japan and Adjacent Northeast Asia: Climatic and Biotic Change, Broadspectrum Diet, Pottery, and Sedentism; C.M. Aikens, T. Akazawa. Siberia in the Late Glacial and Early Postglacial; W.R. Powers. Environments and Peoples at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in the Americas; D.R. Yesner. Human Adaptation at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary; (ca. 13,000 to 8,000 B.P.) in Eastern Beringia; D.R. Yesner. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition along the Pacific Coast of North America; J.M. Erlandson, M.L. Moss. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition on the Plains and Rocky Mountains of North America; G.C. Frison, R. Bonnichsen. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Eastern United States; D.F. Morse, et al. The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Southern South America; L.A. Borrero. Conclusion: Surprises, Recurring Themes, and New Questions in the Study of the Late Glacial and Early Postglacial; M.A. Jochim. Index.