The entire human population on the planet probably lived in bands, with no evidence of tribes, chiefdoms, kingdoms, or states, which would instead begin to emerge in the next 30,000-40,000 years. By 11,000 BC, however, bands were still the most widespread form of organization. The
key factor that should give pause when comparing today’s nutritional needs with those of the Paleolithic is our species’ “ethology” and social habits. In the absence of cars, roads, elevators, smartphones, firearms, and all that technology does for us, the men and women who lived
genetic mutation made symbolic thought possible for humans, which in turn made language possible. There are, however, debates about whether this “Cognitive Revolution” occurred almost suddenly (according to, for example, Noah Harari, among others) or very gradually (according to, for example, Clive Finlayson, among others).
Migration of Homo sapiens tribes to India (crossing the Strait of Hormuz) and then to Southeast Asia and Indonesia; the tribes originated from the Horn of Africa.
Scholz’s binary star, discovered in 2013 AD and composed of a red dwarf and a brown dwarf, both very faint in luminosity and mass, passes just 52,000 AU (Astronomical Units = Earth-Sun distance) from the Sun (0.8 light-years). They are therefore undoubtedly interacting with the
Carmel Mountains, present-day Israel. Small groups of Homo sapiens live in the Skhul and Qafzeh caves. In nearby caves just a few kilometers away, the Tabun and Kebara Caves, small groups of Neanderthals lived 55,000 years later. According to Svante Paabo, this is evidence that
Bands of Homo sapiens set foot in the Middle East, in the Levant (present-day Lebanon and Syria), but were unable to establish permanent settlements. Bands of Neanderthals were already present in the area.
First evidence of complex human symbolic behavior, what we call culture. For example, evidence has been found in South Africa and other parts of Africa of the expressive use of ochre and shells.
The world’s human population is entering a bottleneck, perhaps shrinking to just 20,000 individuals.
Large Magellanic Cloud. A supernova explodes. Its 10^39 neutrinos travel 170,000 km before some of them reach a small blue planet, where eleven are captured by Kamiokande, an underground facility in Japan, and eight neutrinos are captured deep within the Homestake gold mine, New Jersey,
Bruniquel Cave, southwestern France. A group of Neanderthals constructed two complexes of approximately 400 stalactite structures, carefully and precisely split and stacked one on top of the other. The article on this discovery was published in 2016. The site is located more than 300 meters
Homo sapiens, having evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago, reached the region where Israel is now located, where it encountered Neanderthals, with whom it created a Sapiens-Neanderthal hybrid. However, this hybrid did not initially continue toward Europe, not until about 60,000 years ago, when
Possible rising North Sea levels could spill over the Dover Cliffs and open the English Channel, turning the “British Peninsula” into an island.
The giant moose thrives in Europe: it is 2m tall and its antlers extend for 3.6m; it is extinct due to human hunting.
Kessem Cave, Rosh Haayim, present-day Israel. In a cave, a group of humans feed on butchered and roasted meat, seeds, and roots, breathing in the smoke from the fire. Four teeth from one of them were found in 2015, with traces of tartar, plaque, and
There are probably fewer than 10,000 Homo Sapiens specimens in Africa.
Heat exchange between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres is increasing, probably thanks to the North Atlantic Conveyor (the Gulf Stream); this leads to an increase in the thermal oscillation between glaciations and periods of global warming and, perhaps, to a change in the shape of
From the percentages of the isotope Iron 60, it is clear that a supernova of magnitude -16 must have appeared in the sky at the time, with serious consequences, first of all probably a notable reduction of the ozone layer, especially at latitudes above 30
Following the closure of the Panama Strait, the Smilodon (saber-toothed tiger) is spreading across South America.