In Search Of… I swing my legs into the opening. Mud squishes beneath me. I wiggle downward, pushing with my hands and feeling my way with my feet. It’s dark. I make my way through


the narrow passage until I reach a large chamber below me. Gustavo is waiting for me.


We are now standing on the main level of El Portillo. My husband, the expedition photographer, joins us. We set up some lights and get to work. On a map of this cave, there’s a note about “two red dots” on one of the cave walls. More than anything, I want to fi nd these symbols.


Ice Age


Over time, Earth’s climate has changed between cold periods and warm periods. During the cold periods, glaciers covered large parts of the world. During the warm periods, the glaciers melted. An ice age can last for millions of years. At the height of the last ice age, much of Northern Europe was covered by ice. It was more than a kilometer thick.


Even though it was cold, many things


lived here. Ice age people lived among the cold weather and fi erce predators. They were tough and hardy people. They left behind many items from their daily lives. These included tools, clothing, and shelter. They also left behind beautiful art painted and engraved on cave walls. What their art meant, we do not know.


TRAILBLAZER TRAIBLAZER 19


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