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The ancient world p.12

	1 Colonization of the world 1.8 million years ago to 10,000 BC
	2 The spread of farming c. 10,000-3000 BG
	3 Civilizations c. 3000-1700 BC
	4 Civilizations c. 500-200 BC
	5 The world AD 200-500

Australopithecines (5-2mya) to human (190kya)

5-2mya: australopithecines: earliest ancestors of humans, Africa
	  A, robustus and A. boisei: plant eaters
	  A. africanus : smaller, more varied diet. 
2mya: h. habilis : small creatures whose diet probably included kills
	scavenged from carnivores.  began to make stone tools ("Oldowan" after
	the key site of Olduvai), roughly chipped to form edge
1.8mya: hominids are increasingly successful; found upto E. Asia
	improved tools - handaxes
	increased body size, could compete more successfully w other
	scavengers
500mya: hominids hunting as well as scavenging, using wooden spears and
	probably fire.   used caves and shelters against temperate climate; 
	Zhoukoudian / Choukoutien (50km Beijing, 750Kya-200Kya; remains of 45
		individuals) 
200kya : descendants of Homo habilis - all were earlier classified as Homo
	erectus, but now multiple roughly contemporary hominid species more
	probable:
	- H. ergaster in africa, 
	- H. erectus in east eurasia and 
	- H. heidelbergensis in west eurasia. 
195kya: h.sapiens emerges in s w africa, near namibia [wikip; book has 120Kya]
by 100Kya: h.neanderthalensis (desc. h. heidelbergensis) and h.sapiens were
	in Ubeidiya [in Jordan rift valley, s of Lake Tiberias, golan
	heights, israel] 
	[genetic studies: h.n and h.s. genese diverged 500kya]
by 40,000 bc, h.sapiens had colonized africa and eurasia, displacing
	earlier species. 

Australopithecines: earliest ancestors of humans...  emerged in e Africa,
5-2 million years ago, when forests gave way in places to more open
savanna. 

A line of footprints discovered at Laetoli is vivid evidence that these now
extinct early hominids (human ancestors belonging to the genera
Australopithecus and Homo} walked upright. Hominid fossils from this remote
period are rare, since the creatures themselves were not numerous. ...
The paucity of hominid fossils makes their classification extremely
difficult, and there are major and frequent changes in the interpretation
of the limited evidence.  - p.16

Ice ages

There had been a gradual cooling of the global climate, with ice sheets
developing in the Arctic by 2.4 million years ago. Around 900,000 years ago
this process had accelerated, giving rise to a pattern of short ice ages
approximately every 100,000 years. These ice ages were interspersed with
short phases of temperatures similar to or higher than those of today, and
much longer periods of intermediate temperatures.  The pattern of ice advance
and retreat had a major effect not only on the distribution of hominids and
other mammals but also on the preservation of their fossils, so the picture
that we have today is at best partial.

From hunting to farming

In 10,000 BG the world was inhabited solely by groups who lived by hunting
and gathering wild foods. Within the succeeding 8,000 years, however, much of
the world was transformed...  People in many parts of the world began
to produce their own food, domesticating and selectively breeding plants and
animals. Farming supported larger and more settled communities, allowing the
accumulation of stored food surpluses - albeit with the counterpoised risks
involved in clearing areas of plants and animals that had formerly been a
source of back-up food in lean years. Agricultural communities expanded in
many regions, for example colonizing Europe and South Asia, and in doing so
radically changed the landscape.

Intensive and highly productive agriculture gave rise to civilized societies
in Mesopotamia, Egypt and northern India in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC and
in China by l2OOBC.

Metalworking

Unlike pottery, which was made by the majority of settled communities, and
stone, used for tools worldwide from very early times, metalworking did not
develop in all parts of the globe, due in part to the distribution of
ores. Initially metal artefacts tended to be prestige objects, used to
demonstrate individual or community status, but metal was soon used for
producing tools as well. The development of techniques for working iron, in
particular, was a major breakthrough, given the abundance and widespread
distribution of iron ore.

By about 500 BC ironworking was well established in Europe, West and South
Asia, and in parts of East Asia and Africa.

In India the primary civilization had emerged along the Indus river system;
after its fall, the focus of power and prosperity shifted to the Ganges
Valley, which by the 3rd century BG was the centre of the Mauryan Empire.