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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Peter Watson
Started reading
May 14, 2025
believed to have been made by H. erectus were reported as having been found in Majuangou, west of Beijing, and dated to 1.66 million years ago.
believed to have been made by H. erectus were reported as having been found in Majuangou, west of Beijing, and dated to 1.66 million years ago.
Claims have been made for the use of fire as far back as 1.42 million years ago.
Claims have been made for the use of fire as far back as 1.42 million years ago.
A third spurt in brain size occurred around 500,000–300,000 years ago, with a jump from 750–1,250 cc (for H. erectus), to 1,100–1,400 cc.
A third spurt in brain size occurred around 500,000–300,000 years ago, with a jump from 750–1,250 cc (for H. erectus), to 1,100–1,400 cc.
At much the same time, possibly earlier, around 420,000 years ago, the first hunting spears appear.
At much the same time, possibly earlier, around 420,000 years ago, the first hunting spears appear.
The first signs of undisputed intentional burial date to 120,000 to 90,000 years ago, at the Qafzeh and Skhul caves in Israel.
The first signs of undisputed intentional burial date to 120,000 to 90,000 years ago, at the Qafzeh and Skhul caves in Israel.
The picture is, however, muddied by the emergence of anatomically modern humans, who seem to have arisen in Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago and then spread out across the globe.
The picture is, however, muddied by the emergence of anatomically modern humans, who seem to have arisen in Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago and then spread out across the globe.
And so from then, until around 31,000 years ago, when we find the last traces of the Neanderthals, these two forms of humanity lived side-by-side, and such artefacts as remain could belong to either.
And so from then, until around 31,000 years ago, when we find the last traces of the Neanderthals, these two forms of humanity lived side-by-side, and such artefacts as remain could belong to either.
Only at around 60,000 years ago do we find controlled fire, proper hearths–at Vilas Ruivas in Portugal and at Molodova on the Dnestr river in Russia–significantly associated with windbreaks made from mammoth bones.
Only at around 60,000 years ago do we find controlled fire, proper hearths–at Vilas Ruivas in Portugal and at Molodova on the Dnestr river in Russia–significantly associated with windbreaks made from mammoth bones.
A second–and more controversial–climatic explanation is that the eruption of the Mount Toba volcano at 71,000 years ago led to a worldwide volcanic winter, lasting ten thousand years and drastically reducing both the human and animal population.
A second–and more controversial–climatic explanation is that the eruption of the Mount Toba volcano at 71,000 years ago led to a worldwide volcanic winter, lasting ten thousand years and drastically reducing both the human and animal population.
v
A second–and more controversial–climatic explanation is that the eruption of the Mount Toba volcano at 71,000 years ago led to a worldwide volcanic winter, lasting ten thousand years and drastically reducing both the human and animal population.
v
Mark Stoneking and his colleagues infer that body lice ‘probably evolved from hair lice when a new ecological niche–clothing–became available’. Based on the rate of mutation, they date this to 75,000
Mark Stoneking and his colleagues infer that body lice ‘probably evolved from hair lice when a new ecological niche–clothing–became available’. Based on the rate of mutation, they date this to 75,000
Some time between 25,000 and 10,000 years ago, the area of sea that now separates Siberia from America–the Bering Strait–was land, and ancient man was able to walk from Eurasia to Alaska.
Some time between 25,000 and 10,000 years ago, the area of sea that now separates Siberia from America–the Bering Strait–was land, and ancient man was able to walk from Eurasia to Alaska.
The latest evidence suggests that modern humans left Africa twice, first around 90,000 years ago, through Sinai into the Levant, an exodus which petered out. The second exodus occurred around 45,000 years later, along a route across the mouth of the Red Sea at the ‘Gate of Grief’ in Ethiopia. Humans reached the Middle East and Europe via the valleys of Mesopotamia, and south-east Asia by ‘beachcombing’ along the coasts. (This cannot quite be squared with the most recent evidence that early humans reached Australia around 60,000–50,000 BP.)
The latest evidence suggests that modern humans left Africa twice, first around 90,000 years ago, through Sinai into the Levant, an exodus which petered out. The second exodus occurred around 45,000 years later, along a route across the mouth of the Red Sea at the ‘Gate of Grief’ in Ethiopia. Humans reached the Middle East and Europe via the valleys of Mesopotamia, and south-east Asia by ‘beachcombing’ along the coasts. (This cannot quite be squared with the most recent evidence that early humans reached Australia around 60,000–50,000 BP.)
So far as we can tell, the land bridge between what is now Russia and Alaska was open between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago, after which the seas again rose and it was submerged.
So far as we can tell, the land bridge between what is now Russia and Alaska was open between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago, after which the seas again rose and it was submerged.
We know that 60,000–55,000 years ago Australia was discovered, and that must have involved sailing or rafting over distances of about fifty miles, roughly the width of the Bering Strait.
We know that 60,000–55,000 years ago Australia was discovered, and that must have involved sailing or rafting over distances of about fifty miles, roughly the width of the Bering Strait.
And by the fact that the presence of early man at Tierra del Fuego, ‘the end of the road’ at the southern tip of South America, has been dated to about 9000 BC.
And by the fact that the presence of early man at Tierra del Fuego, ‘the end of the road’ at the southern tip of South America, has been dated to about 9000 BC.
In line with such reasoning, each of the skulls unearthed at Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel and dated to 95,000–90,000 BP, had a completely modern supra-laryngeal vocal tract: ‘These fossil hominids probably had modern speech and language.’
In line with such reasoning, each of the skulls unearthed at Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel and dated to 95,000–90,000 BP, had a completely modern supra-laryngeal vocal tract: ‘These fossil hominids probably had modern speech and language.’
By placing the invention of two-tiered pottery kilns–towards the end of the fifth millennium–next to the archaeological observation that certain copper objects were discovered at Susa, Al ‘Ubaid, Nineveh and Ur, we can conclude that smelting was discovered about 4300 BC.
By placing the invention of two-tiered pottery kilns–towards the end of the fifth millennium–next to the archaeological observation that certain copper objects were discovered at Susa, Al ‘Ubaid, Nineveh and Ur, we can conclude that smelting was discovered about 4300 BC.
The transition from proto-money to coins proper took place in Lydia, in what is now Turkey, some time between 640 and 630 BC.
The transition from proto-money to coins proper took place in Lydia, in what is now Turkey, some time between 640 and 630 BC.
For during the period 750–350 BC, the world underwent a great intellectual sea-change. In that relatively short time, most of the world’s great faiths came into being.
For during the period 750–350 BC, the world underwent a great intellectual sea-change. In that relatively short time, most of the world’s great faiths came into being.
Democracy was introduced into Athens in 507 BC by Cleisthenes
As a merchant who had travelled to Egypt, he had picked up enough mathematics and Babylonian astronomy to be able to predict a total eclipse of the sun in the year 585 BC, which duly occurred, on the day we call 29 May.
The calendar we use today is actually a modified version of the one introduced in Rome by Julius Caesar on 1 January 45 BC. The previous year, 46 BC, was 445 days long, to bring it into line, and was known as ‘the last year of confusion’.16 The change was made because, under the previous system, intercalary months, of no determinate length, had been abused by unscrupulous politicians for their own ends–for example, either to lengthen a term of office, or to bring forward an election.17 Caesar abolished both the lunar year and intercalary months and settled on the solar year of 365¼ days,
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The first mention of Christmas Day, according to G. J. Whitrow, occurred in the Roman calendar for 354.
A later librarian, Eratosthenes (c. 276–196), was a geographer as well as a mathematician. A great friend of Archimedes, he believed that all the earth’s oceans were connected, that Africa might one day be circumnavigated and that India ‘could be reached by sailing westward from Spain’. It was Eratosthenes who calculated the correct duration of a year, who put forward the idea that the earth is round, and calculated its diameter to within an error of fifty miles.
The first evidence for written Latin has been found, according to Mason Hammond, on the protecting catch of a gold safety pin or fibula, dated by some scholars to 600 BC.
According to one estimate, a sheet of papyrus in the first century AD cost $30–35 (at 1989 prices) in Egypt, where it was produced, and much more abroad.
Martial’s first book of epigrams–some seven hundred lines long–was priced at 20 sestertii (= 5 denarii), and his thirteenth (276 lines) at 4 sestertii (= 1 denarius). To give some idea of value, Martial himself says that ‘you could get a chick-pea dinner and a woman for an as each’. Since an as was worth 1/18 of a denarius, then as John Barsby puts it, ‘You could have had forty-five chick-pea dinners plus forty-five nights of love for the price of a copy of Martial’s book of epigrams. It is a wonder he sold any copies at all.’
In architecture the discovery of concrete made all the difference. Invented towards the end of the third century, possibly via Africa, it was found that a mixture of water, lime and a gritty material like sand would set into a durable substance which could be used either to bond masonry or as a building material in its own right and one which, up to a point, could be shaped in a mould.
And so, when Constantine became emperor in AD 312, and the fortunes of Christianity changed, persecution being replaced by favour, there was a great sense of triumph.
In 529 the emperor Justinian closed the ancient school of philosophy at Athens, ‘the last bastion of intellectual paganism’.
