Climate stage· The columns of time

Saalian glacial

191 ka → 130 ka

The Saalian glacial, from 191,000 to 130,000 years ago, is a cold stage of sixty thousand years, the longest the species had faced by then.

Glacial stage of sixty thousand years corresponding to MIS 6, the longest faced by the species to that date. The ice sheets extend far into northern Europe and the Sahara again becomes a continuous barrier.

What the evidence shows

The stage, which covers MIS 6, takes its name from the Saale, a German river whose valley preserves the deposits by which the glacial extension was described. This designation follows the practice of type localities: a glacial period is named after the place where its deposits were first described, a valley, a moraine or a watercourse. Each country having described its own, the same global stage is called Saalian in Germany, Riss in the Alps and Illinoian in North America. These names inform on the history of research and not on the phenomena, and isotopic numbering was adopted in order to have a nomenclature independent of regions. For a population still confined to Africa, the consequence of the stage is the closure of exit routes: a green Sahara phase closes in two to three millennia, continuous habitats fragment, and northern itineraries remain impassable throughout the glacial. The following interglacial reopens them.

Bounds and conventions

The designation is regional and proceeds from north European glacial geology, whereas the limits retained here come from the global isotopic curve. The two do not coincide exactly; where they diverge, this timeline follows the curve, applicable at any point on the globe.

MIS 6.