EPS 221 L4 Earth Resources through History: Lec 4 Pleistocene to Middle Ages (Craig et al. Ch 3)

Examine Thesis: There is a close relationship between human cultural development and mineral use plus geologic & environmental factors Mineral Determinism: Mining is the cutting edge for economic and cultural development Trade follows the flag, but the flag follows the pick. T. A. Rickard, 1932

The world pattern of wealth reflects the distribution of minerals. H. H. Read, 1952

DEEP TIME: James Hutton, 1788 …no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end. Look @ last 1.5% of Earth History

K-T boundary: 65.5 Ma Age of Reptiles => Age of Mammals Chicxulub impact event, Yucatan Peninsula

James Hutton 1726-1797

National Galleries of Scotland

0

1000

2000

3000

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Milli

on Y

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P h

a n

e r o

z o

i c

USGS

23.0

5 K-T boundary

St. Louis

Ozark strata

St. Francois Mts.

Coals, clay Limestone

Hominids

Oldest rocks Age of Earth

CRATERING

Dominant geomorphic process in Solar System Mostly early process

NASA

NASA

Fireball RadiationAirblast

EarthquakesTsunamis

Burial beneath ejecta

BurningSoot cooling

PyrotoxinsAcid rain

No photosynthesis

Loss of visionCooling

Acid rain

Ozone lossCooling

Cooling

Acid rain

Heavy metal poisoning?

Greenhouse warming?

CHICXULUB IMPACT EVENTEnvironmenatl Perturbations D.A. Kring (GSAT, 2000)

A FIRES

DUST

NOx

SO2

IMMEDIATE MONTHS YEARS DECADES

CHICXULUB IMPACT EVENT Environmental Perturbations @ 65.5 Ma after D.A. Kring (GSAT, 2000)

SHOCK

K-T boundary: Age of Reptiles => Age of Mammals Chicxulub impact event, Yucatan Peninsula Tertiary Period < 65.5 Ma Adaptive radiation of Mammals: to sea, air, plains...... Primitive Mammals: now, most in Australia

Monotremes: egg layers, platypus, echidna Marsupials: pouch Placental mammals 1st primates (rodentlike); carnivores, ungulates,.... Global cooling trend Paleotemperatures: H.C. Urey (1947, 1950) calibration

Urey et al. 1951

-1.3

-0.9

-0.5

δ18O T°C

δ13C

Savin & Yeh 1981

0

Miocene-Pliocene (23 to 1.8 Ma)

Primates very diversified by this time: Tarsiers, Lemurs, New & Old World Monkeys, Apes... Hominids: Family of Man 32 teeth bipedal locomotion

Ramapithecus Earliest hominid, ~ 14 Ma

Ardipithecus 4.4 Ma (new discovery)

Australopithecus 3.8 Ma to ~ 0.8 Ma e.g. Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania , E. Africa, Ethiopia (Lucy @ 3.2 Ma) Pebble tools => first Paleolithic cultures Hunting & Gathering Erect Posture Marked sexual differences: Females 4’ tall, 50 lbs/Males 5’, 100 lbs Organization: Tribal units

Homo habilis - co-existed? Fossil record fragmentary

Dryopithecus Mio-Pliocene Australopithecus

600-700 cm3 3.8 - 0.8 Ma

Romer 1966

Quadraped; ape Biped

Ardipithecus 4.4 Ma

Ardipithecus rarnidus 4.4 Ma 120 lbs 4’ tall

NYT Oct 1 2009

Ardipithecus rarnidus 4.4 Ma 120 lbs 4’ tall

NYT Oct 1 2009

“Lucy” Hadar, Ethiopia ~ 3.18 Ma 3’6” 60 lbs bipedal

Institute of Human Origins, ASU

Australopithecus 3.8 Ma to ~ 0.8 Ma Pebble tools => first Paleolithic cultures Hunting & Gathering Erect Posture Marked sexual dimorphism Organization: Tribal units

Pleistocene 1.8 Ma to 10 ka Quasi-periodic climatic oscillations Advance & retreat of icecaps Homo sp.

Faure 1986

Globigerinoides sacculifera

Pacific, 1°1’ N

Caribbean 14°57’ N

Dryopithecus Mio-Pliocene

Australopithecus 600 - 700 cm3

3.8 - 0.8 Ma

1550 cm3 110 - 28 ka

Homo sapiens sapiens 1500 cm3 70 ka - present

Homo erectus 1050 cm3

Choukoutien / Peking man Homo erectus 890 cm3 Java man

After Romer 1966

1.75 - 0.3 Ma

Homo sapiens nenderthalensis

Pleistocene 1.8 Ma to 10 ka Advance & retreat of icecaps

Homo erectus ~ 1.75 to 0.3 Ma chopping tools, probably fire

Homo sapiens ~ 0.5 Ma on Homo sapiens neanderthalis 110 => 28 ka fire; advanced tools; burials

Homo sapiens sapiens Cro Magnon ~ 70 - 10 ka Replaced Neanderthals (linguistic advantages?)

Portugese child; interbreeding- Prof Trinkaus, WU Magdalenian culture- 28 to 10 ka Cave art- Niaux & Lascaux, France; Altamira, Spain ,etc.

Depicted wooly mammoths, bison, horse,... bows and arrows later on Fe, Mn oxides & charcoal used as pigments; no blues or greens Cold times - Cave association; also low sea level stand

Wisconsin Glaciation- ice to MOR! Land bridges @ Bering strait; Australia ~30ka

Mastodon SHP- mastodon remains + projectile point

Acheulian bifaces >150 to 75 ka Early Man p 116

Late Paleolithic Early Man p. 117

Early Man p. 160

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/kimmswick.html

Kimmswick Clovis Point, 4” 11,500 a

Mastodon Bones, Kimmswick, MO

Kimmswick SHP

Vostok data from Petit et al. 1997

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-500

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050100150

PLEISTOCENE HOLOCENE

PALEOLITHIC NEOLITHIC

δD,

Vost

ok

AGE, ka

LANGUAGE ? FIRE

NEANDERTHAL

CRO MAGNON

CAVE ART LAND BRIDGES

Holocene (10 ka to present) Warmer climatic conditions immediately after Younger Dryas Coincides with development of Neolithic cultures Neolithic

1st agriculture @ 10 ka (= 8000 B.C.)

Organization: First permanent constructed habitations

Salt becomes essential in diets (not needed with meat diet); preservative & antiseptic

Wheel

>9000 B.C. pottery (clays); domestication of sheep, dogs

>9000 B.C. use of native metals, esp. Cu & Au, also some Ag Fe (nuggets, meteorites)

Criss

Monks Mound Cahokia, IL

Cahokia Mounds SP

Criss

Cahokia Mounds SP

Criss

Copper Age (4000 B.C. to 3000 B.C.) (6 to 5 ka)

Beginning defined by first smelting of ores with charcoal (fuel & reductant) to make Cu metal

First phonetic writing ~ 3500 B.C.

Brick making, glazing (clays)

Bitumen

Organization: Kingdoms; First City States

Mesopotamia: Ur, Babylon Also, Nile, Indus & Yellow River Valleys

3500 B.C. NE Israel, Dead Sea Cu & Ivory

National Geographic 4/99

Ziggurat, Ur

http://oi.uchicago.edu/

UR

Bronze Age (3000 B.C. to 1100 B.C.) Beginning defined by first non-accidental bronze alloys => smelting of Sn ores (= 90% Cu & 10% Sn) Glass

Compass (Chinese ~3000 B.C.) Incredible stone working, quarrying Egyptian culture (ca. 2850 B.C. - 715 B.C. Pyramid of Cheops 2800 B.C. 755' length original height est 482' (now 450') (cf. Arch 630’) 2,300,000 stone blocks with avg. weight of 2.5 tons e.g., Early Greeks, Egyptians, Shang Dynasty

USAF

http://www.tutankhamun-exhibition.co.uk/pages/exhibition_content.htm King Tutankhamun 1325 B.C.

Iron Age (1100 B.C. to 410 A.D) Classical Greece: Great Advances in Art, Science, Architecture, Medicine Democracy, Olympic games, then Romans

Early Romans- salt wars with Italians Alchemy Coins: Lydia 640 BC

Electrum; then Au and Ag coins, then bronze coins Smelting of Fe ores- hematite & limonite (high T required) Knowledge of fluxes True brass (Cu + Zn alloy) Rome- giant metropolis @ ~AD 320, with 1 million pop.

Organization: Empires

e.g. Roman Empire (500 B.C. to 410 A.D. = Fall of Rome) had lead pipes, aqueducts, pozzolanic cement (quicklime + volcanic ash)

Electrum; Early 6th Century BC, Lydia (now Turkey) First coins ~ 7th century BC

http://www.cngcoins.com/

Rome 306-337 A.D. Pop ~ 1 M

National Geographic 7/97