Pleistocene

Discuss: Martin’s hypothesis of the Pleistocene Overkill states that humans were directly responsible for the extinction of the large mammals in north Eurasia and the Americas during the Late Pleistocene era. Martin observed that there is a connection between the time humans began inhabiting north Eurasia and the Americas, and the extinction of the majority of enormous mammals. The overkill hypothesis states that the predecessors of the Native Americans arrived in North America (approximately fourteen thousand years ago), there were a myriad of large mammal species which had never seen humans before. As a result, the mammals did not sense that they should be worried about these small two legged beings. The humans were able to benefit from this…

Until 11,700 years ago our earth had been in the Pleistocene Epoch, incorporating an evolutionary surge that lead to Homo Habilis, who lived from about 2.1 to 1.5 million years ago(2). By the peak of this duration the global temperatures on earth dropped by about 5oC, plunging the entire planet into an ice age, creating vast glaciers miles deep that expanded across limitless amounts of land, locking hordes of water into impenetrable sheets of ice. However, this gave a few species on earth a…

breadth during Middle and Upper Paleolithic in Europe. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 14:162-177. Hardy, B. L., K. Marvin, A. E. Marks and K. Monigal 2001 Stone tool function at the paleolithic sites of Starosele and Buran Kaya III, Crimea: Behavioral implications. PNAS 98(19):10972-10977. Kuhn, S. L. and M. C. Stiner 2006 What’s a Mother to Do? The Division of Labor among Neandertals and Modern Humans in Eurasia. Current Anthropology 47(6):953-980. Lalueza, C., A. Pérez-Pérez and…

first floor. The terms Pliocene and Pleistocene are only truly explained in this section, along with what geological changes happened at various points in these epochs. As mentioned previously, the museum uses an interactive element (a touch screen titled “Explore the World Map”) to highlight these changes and make them easier to understand. Unfortunately, an epoch is only mentioned once in the climate section. The term Pleistocene is mentioned very briefly in the comparison of its icehouse…

evidence of human habitation in the area, as much as 50,000 years old, doubling the anthological history of Australia. The discovery of human remains records some of the earliest evidence of burial rituals including the first cremation and the world 's oldest ochre burial. Evidence also exists for the earliest Homo sapiens outside of Africa. Lake Mungo contains the world 's largest collection of fossilized human footprints. Evidence of diet, lifestyle and human adaptation to the changes in…

According to Merriam and Webster permafrost is, “a permanently frozen layer at variable depth below the surface in frigid regions of a planet”. This happens in places such as East Asia, Canada, and Alaska. Underneath these regions surface soil are huge blocks of ice. These huge blocks of ice under the soil have been frozen for at least fifty-thousand years. Some large glaciers and sheets of ice are left over from the Pleistocene period. “The Pleistocene period began 1,800,000 years ago, and…

A new discovery was released in 2016, when a bulldozer operator in northwestern Oklahoma uncovered a Columbian Mammoth skull. Mammoths lived during the Paleolithic Era beginning 2.6 million years ago until roughly 10,000 YBP. This time period was also known as the Pleistocene Epoch, which was later followed by the current stage we live in today, the Holocene Epoch. According to the sixth threshold, 200,000 years ago mammoths were hunted by neanderthals, (early homo sapiens), which were used as…

Following the last glacial maximum, at the end of the Pleistocene, there was a period of rapid change in the earth system (Björck, S. (2007)). This included; the onset of the younger Dryas cold reversal, which saw the return of glacial like conditions across the northern hemisphere and megafaunal extinction, where 35 genera of large mammals became extinct across North America (Firestone et al., 2007). One possible explanation for this change is the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH), which…

basin, where tectonic down warping caused it to sink. Uplift has caused the forearc basin to form frontal mountain ridges, these ridges range from 200-300m in the coastal zone, and out west they can reach 1000m along the active faults (Berryman, 1988). Due to the dominant mudstone and siltstone composition of these ridges they are susceptible to landslides even on small scale slopes (Berryman, 1988). A large landslide dammed lakes, like Lake Titua in the study area. In a study by Berryman…

“A mammoth is a type of elephant which is now extinct but widespread throughout the middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere during the Pleistocene and early Holocene .It was distinguished by its long hair, thick woolly under fur and long tusks which curved upward and outwards .The woolly mammoths became extinct in 10000BC.” - According to the oxford dictionary The riddle of the frozen mammoths has puzzled scientists for many years. They have been wandering if these animals existed…