Monday, June 1, 2015

400,000 Years Ago

400,000 years -- we're only at 2,015 in the "common era". So roughly 398,000 BCE. The Great Pyramid of Giza is from around 2,560 BCE, and Stonehenge is from between 3,000 BCE and 2,000 BCE. The cave paintings at Lascaux are from approximately 15,000 BCE. The earliest musical instruments found, bone flutes (bone survives well in the archaeological record), are about 35,000 years old, that is, from 33,000 BCE (although there is some disagreement about some finds and dates).

200,000 years ago is when we think the first humans -- homo sapiens -- evolved.

400,000 years ago is when homo heidelbergensis, not us but our ancestors, existed. No humans.

And this is a chipped (napped) stone instrument they made, possibly to cut animals apart. And that's me holding it at the British Museum. HOW COOL IS THAT I'LL TELL YOU IT'S VERY COOL.