Re: Earth's magnetic pole shift: Sunscreen, clothes, caves may have helped Homo sapiens survive 41kya

erik simpson wrote:

On 4/18/25 10:48 PM, Primum Sapienti wrote:

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https://phys.org/news/2025-04-earth-magnetic-pole-shift-sunscreen.html
>
Ancient Homo sapiens may have benefited
from sunscreen, tailored clothes and the
use of caves during the shifting of the
magnetic North Pole over Europe about
41,000 years ago, new University of
Michigan research shows.
>
These technologies could have protected
Homo sapiens living in Europe from harmful
solar radiation. Neanderthals, on the
other hand, appear to have lacked these
technologies and disappeared around 40,000
years ago, according to the study,
published in Science Advances and led by
researchers at Michigan Engineering and
the U-M Department of Anthropology.
>
The 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. While the
magnetic reversal didn't complete at the
time, the magnetic field weakened to cause
aurora to occur over most of the globe, and
allowed more harmful UV light to come in from
space.
>
Around the same time, Homo sapiens appear to
have started making tailored clothing and
using ochre, a mineral that has sun-protective
properties when applied to the skin, with
greater frequency. These behaviors could have
contributed to their spread throughout Europe
and Asia at a time when the Neanderthal
population was declining.
>
"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," said Agnit
Mukhopadhyay, lead author and U-M research
affiliate in climate and space sciences and
engineering.
>
"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."
...
>
>
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq7275
Wandering of the auroral oval 41,000 years ago
>
>
Abstract
In the recent geological past, Earth’s magnetic
field reduced to ~10% of the modern values and
the magnetic poles shifted away from the
geographic poles, causing the Laschamps
geomagnetic excursion, about 41 millennia ago.
The excursion lasted ~2000 years, with dipole
strength reduction and tilting spanning 300
years. During this period, the geomagnetic
field’s multipolarity resembled outer planets,
causing rapid magnetospheric changes. To our
knowledge, this study presents the first space
plasma analysis of the excursion, linking the
geomagnetic field, magnetospheric system, and
upper atmosphere in sequence using feedback
channels for distinct temporal epochs. A
three-dimensional reconstruction of Earth’s
geospace system shows that these shifts
affected auroral regions and open magnetic
field lines, causing them to expand and wander
toward lower latitudes. These changes likely
altered the upper atmosphere’s composition and
influenced anthropological progress during
that era. Looking through a modern lens, such
an event would disrupt contemporary technology,
including communications and satellite
infrastructure.
>

Earth's magnetic field reversals are not that infrequent.  To some extent this looks like an explanation in search of a problem.  Did Neanderthals really die of sunburn?

 A correlation without adequate causation. It
may be a coincidence of timing. A starting
point if nothing else.