Prehistory Flashcards
What is the age of the Earth and how was this determined?
The Earth 4.54 billions years (2pts) as obtained through radiometric age dating (3pts)
When did the supercontinent Pangea exist and when did it start to break apart?
Pangea formed roughly 300 millions years ago and broke apart 175 millions years ago.
How many Ice Ages has the world gone through and when was the latest one?
Around 5 (2pts) and the last one was between 35 000 and 9600 BCE (3pts).
How far does life on Earth date back?
3.8 billion years
What were the first living organisms on earth?
Simple single-celled prokaryotes (1 pt): bacteria (2 pts) and archaea (2 pts)
How far does the genus “Homo” date back?
Man, of the genus “Homo” dates back 2.5 million years.
When did Homo sapiens arrive?
Sapiens arrived roughly 200 000 years ago
What is known to be the Cambrian Explosion and when did it occur?
The Cambrian Explosion occurred roughly 540 - 530 Million years ago (1 pt), with the relatively “sudden” arrival of a bounty of new life forms (2 pts) as is evidenced by the appearance of most major animal phyla in the fossil record (2 pts).
When did the dinosaurs go extinct and how long did they exist?
Dinosaurs went extinct roughly 65 million years ago and had existed for about 165 million years.
How far does our last common ancestor with the chimpanzees date back?
Our last common ancestor dates back roughly 7 million years.
How far back does tool implementation date back and what were the first tools being use for?
There is evidence of stone implements being used 2.5 millions years ago in Africa, 1.8 million years ago in Asia and 1 million years ago in Europe. One of the most common uses of early stone tools was to crack open bones in order to get to the marrow.
In fact many researchers believe that this was our original niche - we would wait for a predator to devour its prey and then scavenge the leftovers.
When did the Neanderthals live and what led to their extinction?
The Neanderthals lived from 200 000 BCE to roughly 30 000 BCE when they finally went extinct after prolonged competition with our species.
Possible interbreeding between our species occurred between 60 000 - 50 000 years ago.
When did humans begin to hunt on a regular basis and what impact did this have on the ecosystem.
Around 400 000 years ago. Before that we were scavengers. Since our leap to the top of the food chain was very drastic, in the large scale of evolution (lions and sharks evolved into their position over long millennia) our ecosystem hasn’t had the time to develop checks and balances to prevent us from wreaking too much havoc.
