2. A stromatolite is a fossil of blue green algae, or cyanobacteria. They date back up to 3.5 billion years ago, and made other life possible by transforming earth’s atmosphere to one much more suited for terrestrial life, by creating oxygen gas.
3. Archean life was extremely basic, essentially making it harder for anything to go wrong with it. Life first appeared in an incredibly hostile environment, todays earth is much more hospitable and abundant with all sorts of life.
4. The Paleozoic era began with the Cambrian period, around 540 million years ago. At this time, marine life became very abundant, and the first fish started to appear. Animal families became more diverse 480 million years ago, starting the Ordovician period, which ended
Around 144 million years ago, began the emergence of the Ornithischian dinosaurs during the cretaceous period and diversified into North America and Asia.
In conclusion, The Mesolithic Period is part of the upper Paleolithic. It was followed by the pre-pottery Neolithic era and represented a new phase of culture, characterized by the beginning of settled life.
Before this breakthrough no one could have thought that life occurred so amazingly early, that Earth was inhabited by a huge array of tiny life forms throughout the first four-fifths of it’s existence, and no one deduced that evolution itself evolved over geologic time. All of geological time, the total history of the earth, is divided into major eras and eons. The Precambrian eon marks the approximate age of the earth and spans a time of 4.6 billion years ago to 523 million years ago. This era is known to include approximately 90% of geologic time and covers 4 billion years of Earth history. The time period is not extremely well known or completely understood because rocks from this era are poorly exposed, many rocks have been eroded or metamorphosed, most are buried deep beneath younger rocks and fossils from this time period and are seldom found.
The Precambrian Era is when the Earth formed. Earth was barley a spec of dust in outer space and as time went by it gathered ice, rock and more dust particles. It eventually formed into a big rock flying around in space. The Earth was extremely hot and so when it rained the rain would evaporate in mid air or immediately after it hit the ground. But even though it evaporated these great rains cooled the Earth eventually building up water in lower areas creating oceans. The Earths atmosphere was water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and gases. After awhile oxygen level grew in the atmosphere. The earliest life forms were single celled organisms that lived in the oceans. These organisms used light energy to produce food called photosynthesis. These were called Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes. The evolution of multi celled organisms were Dramatic in change.
Immense changes took place between the Paleolithic and Neolithic time eras. One major change was the evolution of art. During the paleolithic time period, “…humans began making the first consciously manufactured pictorial images” (Kleiner, 16). The art they began creating came in a large variety. “During the Paleolithic period, humankind went beyond the recognition of human and animal forms in the natural environment to the representation of humans and animals (Kleiner, 16). They created portable paintings, sculptures, and figurines. “Art historians are certain, however, that these sculpture were important to those who created them, because manufacturing an ivory figure, especially one a foot tall, was a complicated process (Kleiner, 17). As
This paper examines a National Geographic news article pertaining to the history of First Americans called, “On way to New World, First Americans Made a-10,000 Year Pit Stop”. The First Americans may have stayed on the Bering Land Bridge after separating from Siberia, which would explain a few things about the genetic variances between the two groups. Why do researches believe first Americans lived on the Bering Land Bridge? Are the reasons to believe in this justified? This paper attempts to answer such questions.
They ruled the world before the time of the dinosaurs, from the Cambrian Period to the
Paleolithic is often referred to as the Old Stone Age. "Paleo" means old and "lithic" means stone. The Neolithic time period is often referred to as the New Stone Age. "Neo" means new and "lithic" also means stone. The Paleolithic culture or way of life began about 2.5 to 2 million years ago. The Paleolithic Period ended at different times in different parts of the world, generally around 12,000 years ago in Europe and the Middle East. When the Paleolithic period ended, the Neolithic period took over and began 12,000 years ago somewhere in the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is characterized by the beginning of farming, the domestication of animals, the development of crafts such as pottery and weaving, and the making of polished stone tools. Life changed dramatically between Paleolithic and Neolithic times.
The Permian Period occurred around 298 million years ago. It stretched from the Carboniferous Era to the Triassic. Sir Roderick Murchison in the early 1800’s noticed a differentiation among the overlay of the rock formation in the Ural Mountains in Russia. These rocks differed from the older Carboniferous rocks in Britain, and seemed younger than the Triassic rocks of Europe. Murchison named this differentiation after the prehistoric kingdom of Perm, thus the Permian Period.
...the late Permian period. Their 49 million year existence is theorized to be halted by a predator known as Anomalocaris. The half-meter long Anomalocaris was an active swimming predator (proto-anthropoda) that was physically capable of swallowing a trilobite whole but may also have bitten out ragged chunks of their prey. Trilobite fossils have been found with such wounds, supporting the extinction by predation theory.
According to scientists, one of the most extraordinary bursts of evolution ever known was the Cambrian Explosion. For most of the nearly 4 billion years that life has existed on Earth, evolution produced little beyond bacteria, plankton, and multi-celled algae. Then, about between 570 and 530 million years ago, another burst of diversification occurred. This stunning period is termed the "Cambrian explosion," taking the name of the geological age in which the earlier part occurred. A recent study revealed that life evolved during the Cambrian Period at a rate about five times faster than today. But it was certainly not as rapid as an explosion; the changes seems to have taken around 30 million years, and some stages took 5 to 10 million years. The Cambrian explosion was a period of time where life evolved into numerous multifaceted organisms that developed into the vertebrates and human life as we know today.
The separation of the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages mark a great divide in the lives and cultures of prehistoric peoples. Many aspects of everyday life were modified to suit a new standard of living. Society, Economy, and Technology were greatly affected by the "Agricultural Revolution" that spawned the Neolithic Age.
- - -. The Rise of Life on Earth. New York: New Directions, 1991. Print.
The Permian Period commenced 298.9 million years ago and ended 252.2 million years ago, ranging from the close of the Carboniferous Period and the beginning of Triassic Period. About 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, something killed some 90 percent of the planet's species. The species of animals in the seas survived no more than 5 percent. On land less than a third of the large animal species made it; nearly all the trees died (Hillel J. Hoffman, 2015). Marine life was devastated, with a 57% reduction in the number of families (Sepkoski, 1986). Oceanic life suffered the most, but terrestrial life forms were also greatly affected. All major groups of oceanic organisms were affected with the crinozoans (98%), anthozoans (96%), brachiopods (80%) and bryozoans (79%) suffering the greatest extinction (McKinney, 1987). The world, today, is alive because of the remaining 10 percent. The events that took place were in phases and some of the causes were an asteroid hitting the earth, sea level fluctuations flood basalt eruptions, a drop in oxygen levels from the acid rain caused by volcanic ash, calamitous methane release, etc.
According to The Society for American Archaeology, the definition of Archaeology is, “to obtain a chronology of the past, a sequence of events and dates that, in a sense, is a backward extension of history.” The study of ancient civilizations and archaeology is rather ambiguous due to the primitive nature of the time period. With little imagery and even less textual evidence, professionals in the field must work diligently when studying their subjects. Naturally, archaeologists cannot see or communicate with those whom they are studying, so they must be extraordinarily meticulous when analyzing past cultures. This relates to all aspects of the ancient world including; foods, raw materials, artifacts, agriculture, art work and pottery. All of these elements can collectively provide new and innovative information to curious archaeologists who may wish to gain a better understanding of those who came before us. This information is equally beneficial for both historians and archaeologists who plan to compare the histories of societies from all around the world. In the world of archaeology, archaeologists strive to better explain human behavior by analyzing our past. Therefore, the study of archaeology is a key element in understanding a time before our own.