The cultural tradition known as the "Magdalenian" covers the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the first half of the Tardiglacial period. The Tardiglacial is defined as a period of climatic instability that preceded the Holocene and the establishment of today’s temperate climatic conditions. It is subdivided into different phases corresponding to the pollen zones defined in Denmark by Johannes Iversen: Oldest Dryas, Bølling, Older Dryas, Allerød, Younger Dryas. The chrono-cultural phase that interests us here, the Middle and Upper Magdalenian, is contemporary with the Oldest Dryas and Bølling.
Greenland’s glaciers, marine sediments and speleothems provide high-resolution archives for global palaeoclimatic reconstructions.
In ice cores, variations in oxygen isotopes (16O/18O) reveal cold periods (GS) separated by more temperate interstadials (GIS).
In marine cores, Heinrich events — which correspond to the break-up of icebergs in the North Atlantic linked to instability of the ice caps — resulted in the appearance of mineral debris transported by these icebergs and the development of foraminifera evolving in cold waters. The resulting slowdown in thermohaline circulation caused global cooling across the Northern Hemisphere. The consequences were felt by continental living organisms, vegetation and the human and non-human animals that depended on them. The last Heinrich event — dated between around 18500 and 14700 cal BP —is contemporary with the Oldest Dryas.