Europe has changed greatly in terms of climate and environment in the past 20 million years. Once, there were sub-tropical forests, but by the end of the Miocene, 5 million years ago, these had all gone. This unique book provides evidence for the past climatic history of Europe and the Mediterranean in relation to hominoid evolution. Many different lines of evidence are brought together including studies specifically on past climates and the application of climate modelling, the reconstruction of past geographical events, and the effects they had on European environments and the plants and animals living in them. Together, they form a coherent and consistent image of environmental and climatic change in Europe from 18 to 1.6 million years ago, for all those interested in mammalian and human evolution.