ABSTRACT
Those arctic regions that lie between the northern limit of trees and the southern boundary of perpetual ice are called tundra. The tundra biome is wet arctic grassland, and is characterized by extremely low temperatures and very brief summers. Despite the severe limiting factor of low temperatures for most of the year, there is no shortage of life on the tundra. The large tundra herbivores are present only seasonally, and there are low diversity indices of both plants and animals. The numerous aquatic forms of life in tundra waters are crucial to human adaptations in the biome. Before examining what these sites contained, this chapter explores some of the implications of the change in adaptation and consequent population growth that occurred between the earlier and later Magdalenian. The kind of social systemic change that it proposes for the late Magdalenian represents a major evolutionary step over the kind of band organization that characterized human groups for much of prehistory.
