An Israeli study found that freezing and dry conditions during ice ages did not deter ancient humans from intercontinental migration, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Monday.

According to the study, conducted by the IAA and the northern University of Haifa, and published in the Journal of Human Evolution, the migration of humans from Africa to the Middle East occurred about 200,000 years ago, during an ice age period.

The study, which examined fossils of animals found in a cave on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, identified species of rodents that characterize northern cold regions.

These tiny fossils, most of them less than a millimeter long, are of 13 species of rodents and small insectivores, some of which are now living in high and cold areas, such as the Zagros Mountains in Western Iran and the Caucasus Mountains at the intersection of Asia and Europe.

The researchers were surprised to find among them fossils of animals capable of living only in cold climates, especially the Transcaucasian mole vole, which lived in northern Israel in cold conditions and disappeared from the area more than 150,000 years ago.

The researchers said the findings have major importance to the research of human evolution, showing that the adaptations by which humans became the dominant species on earth appeared early in evolution.

"The migration capabilities allowed prehistoric modern human to reach any continent in a relatively short time, expedite the extinction of earlier human species, and eventually conquer the world," the researchers said. 

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