Sunscreen may have contributed to ancient humans' survival
(NewsNation) — Research from the University of Michigan shows that ancient Homo sapiens may have benefitted from the use of a prehistoric sunscreen during the shifting of the magnetic North Pole over Europe.
Ancient humans used ochre, a mineral with sun-protective properties when applied to the skin. Other ways they protected themselves from harmful solar radiation include tailored clothes and the use of caves.
The research team found that the North Pole wandered over Europe when the magnetic field's poles started to flip positions, a natural process that has happened around 180 times over Earth's geological history. The magnetic reversal didn't occur, but the magnetic field weakened, allowing aurora to appear over most of the globe and increasing the amount of harmful UV light from space.
Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet
Researchers say the measures the ancient humans took may have contributed to their spread throughout Europe and Asia when the Neanderthal population was declining and eventually disappeared around 40,000 years ago.
'In the study, we combined all of the regions where the magnetic field would not have been connected, allowing cosmic radiation, or any kind of energetic particles from the sun, to seep all the way in to the ground,' lead researcher Agnit Mukhopadhyay said. 'We found that many of those regions actually match pretty closely with early human activity from 41,000 years ago, specifically an increase in the use of caves and an increase in the use of prehistoric sunscreen.'
Researchers said their work highlighted that people were still able to survive on a planet whose atmosphere looked a lot different than ours today, and this has implications for the search for life on planets other than Earth.
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