When was the last time Antarctica was not covered in ice?

Question

I've heard that it was as recent as 5000 years ago and that an ancient civilization actually mapped it out back then.

I read a book by Graham Hancock called "Fingerprints of the Gods" that talked about this. Supposedly, there are maps that date back to the 1500's in the library of congress that show Antarctica mapped out with mountain ranges, rivers and all. And these maps are supposedly taken off of older maps dating back thousands of years ago and made by civilizations with enough technological advancements to measure out longitude and lattitude even though we've only been able to map out longitude accurately since the early 1800's. Scientists have taken seismic reading to show that the maps accurately map out antarctica's land mass as if it didn't have ice on it.

Answer 1

I've heard that story as well---interesting how some people just dismiss the evidence and stick to a certain evolutionary viewpoint in the face of such evidence. The global climate was much different before the Great Flood of Noah's time and Antartica was probably just as temperate as the rest of the world including the Artic. The sea level pre-Flood was probably below the continental shelf. There's evidence to suggest the oxygen levels and air pressure was much higher before the flood and fossil evidence shows palm trees and other temperate climate vegetation lying beneath the ice in both polar regions.

Answer 2

Antarctica was once the center of a mega continent called Gondwana. That was about 200 million years ago. We know that it wasn't covered with ice then because they have fossils of tropical plants from that time there.

Also, in the 1980's they did a number of studies with ice cores, and found that it has been covered with ice for at least 160,000 years. From other cores and studies, they have found that it has actually been covered for at least 3 million years. There could not have been an ancient civiliation living there. If a civilization did attempt to live there, they would never have survived a winter. Temperatures at Antarctica range from just above freezing (doesn't occur very often) to -89 degrees celsius or -128 degrees farenheit.

Answer 3

Sorry, it's been covered with ice since the mid-Miocene (15 million years ago).

Answer 4

when earth's landmass was in one peace.