Geographical History

Question 1

Which epoch are we currently in?

Answer 1

The Quaternary epoch (specifically Holocene)

Question 2

When did the Quaternary epoch begin?

Answer 2

2.6 million years ago, as the pleistocene epoch; start of current ice age

Question 3

When did the Holocene epoch begin?

Answer 3

11.7k years ago; contains the whole history of the development of civilisation

Question 4

What are signifiers of an ice age?

Answer 4

Repeated periods of cold and warm (glacial advances and retreats/interglacials)

Question 5

When was the last cold period, and how cold was it?

Answer 5

~26, 500 years ago; -18 Celcius

Question 6

What are Milankovitch cycles?

Answer 6

Cyclic fluctuations in the Earth’s orbit which affect amount of radiation from sun to Earth

Question 7

What are the three Milankovitch cycles?

Answer 7

Orbital eccentricity, axial tilt/obliquity, precession

Question 8

What is orbital eccentricity, and how long does the cycle last?

Answer 8

Orbit of the Earth goes from round to oval and back again; 400k years

Question 9

What is axial tilt, and how long does the cycle last?

Answer 9

The axis of the spinning Earth moving closer to the Sun and further away again; 41k years

Question 10

What is precession, and how long does the cycle last?

Answer 10

The axis of the spinning Earth is not fixed, but itself spins around in a circle; 24k years

Question 11

What are the cold snaps called?

Answer 11

Oldest, older, and younger Dryas

Question 12

When was the oldest Dryas?

Answer 12

~17,000 BP

Question 13

When was the older Dryas?

Answer 13

~14,000 BP

Question 14

When was the younger Dryas?

Answer 14

~12,000 BP; start of Holocene

Question 15

When the Little Ice Age?

Answer 15

1350-1950AD

Question 16

When is the next glacial period predicted to be?

Answer 16

3500AD

Question 17

When was the Old Stone Age, and what was it called?

Answer 17

7,000BC; Palaeolithic

Question 18

When was the Middle Stone Age, and what was it called?

Answer 18

6,000BC; Mesolithic

Question 19

When was the New Stone Age, and what was it called?

Answer 19

3,500BC; Neolithic

Question 20

What was the name of the trainsitionary period between Neolithic to Iron Age?

Answer 20

Chalcolithic

Question 21

When was the start of the Iron Age?

Answer 21

700BC

Question 22

When was the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 22

1760AD

Question 23

What tools were typical of the Mesolithic period?

Answer 23

Composite tools

Question 24

What was significant about the Mesolithic period geographically?

Answer 24

Britain separated from the continent, occurring in three distinct melting events, the last of which was called the Flandrian Transgression; in 5600BC, landslide in Norway set off a tsunami across the sea

Question 25

What was significant about the Neolithic life-style wise, and what materials were used?

Answer 25

Initiated agriculture and domestication, stopping the hunter-gatherer lifestyle; used stone, bone, wood still

Question 26

What materials were used in the Chalcolithic period?

Answer 26

Stone and Cu

Question 27

What materials started to be made in the Iron Age?

Answer 27

Bronze (Cu + Sn) and steel (Fe + C)