Back • Home • Up • Next

It took just 250 000 generations
(ie. assuming a new generation appears every 20 years, there will have been 50 000 generations every 1 million years)

chimpanzees
5 million years ago (MYA)
a common ancestor gave rise to both chimpanzees and hominids (ape men)
5 MYA 4MYA 2 MYA 130 000 YA 50 000 YA

first hominids

 walked upright brain enlarges
& tool making		 first modern
looking humans		 modern bodies
and lifestyles

 

Major migrations of our species over the last 200 000 years

Between:

  
190 000 - 130 000 years ago a single female known formally as the “mitochondrial coalescent” but dubbed “mitochondrial Eve,”
gave rise to every living human today
80 000 - 60 000 years ago a large population from the centre of Africa migrated to all areas of Africa,
as well as the area of present-day Saudi Arabia
60 000 - 30 000 years ago there was a great migration to Southeast Asia, Northern Asia, and Europe
30 000 - 20 000 years ago people spread throughout the rest of the world, including Australia
20 000 - 15 000 years ago people migrated into North America
15 000 - 2000 years ago people made their way into South America
over the past 2000 years

the final migration has been the settlement of the Pacific islands
   

From: The Woodstock of Evolution

I'm having one of those exploding emotional episodes

(Mario Di Maggio, 28 October 2004, Glasgow - to be read while listening to "Crucify" by Tori Amos...)

That song - it carries all the sadness and burdens of our poor, wounded and bleeding species. Despite the potential to be the most glorious life form in the galaxy, we insist on dragging ourselves down with imaginings of crime and guilt. Souring the beauty of it all. Turning on ourselves and tearing apart all that could be.

And today, today one of our ancestors literally came knocking on our door.

Literally. From less than 20 000 years ago, one of our prehistoric cousins - tiny in stature from being isolated on an island for almost a million years - tugged on our sleeve and reminded us who we are. Like these newly-discovered hobbits, we come from a long line of struggling brutes who forged tools, domesticated fire and even sailed seas despite limited abilities and shortcomings.

Never despairing or giving up, no matter what they encountered. Even shrinking in size to overcome the limitations of island food. They - like us - are astounding monuments to the miracles taking place in the Cosmos. We are all of us living displays of magic.

And yet, instead of savouring each moment of our short lives with a thrilling breathlessness, we dig dark, painful pits for ourselves. Quite incredibly, we turn away from the astounding reality we are part of.

A few individuals always prove themselves different to the disappeared masses. Like little Liang Bua, who travelled through time to speak gigantic things to us today, I'm determined to avoid that eagerly-sought torture stake.

Instead, I'm going to make my forgotten ancestors proud, and my moment of existence brim with light.