Prehistory

The Big Bang Theory

About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the

Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point.

• The origin of the Big Bang theory can be credited to Edwin Hubble. Hubble made the observation that the universe is continuously expanding.

PrehistoryWhen did history begin?

History began when man began to document

events in writing!

Anything prior to writing is referred to as

“prehistoric”

What is the Prehistoric Era?

It refers to the time before written history began.

Therefore, it includes:

The Stone Age

Paleolithic and Neolithic ages

The Bronze Age

The Iron Age

Time from about 2,000,000 B.C. to roughly

2000 B.C.

Dating Early ArtifactsRadiocarbon Dating

organic matter includes once-living things like wood artifacts, campfire ashes, bone, and cotton cloth. A very small percentage of the carbon atoms absorbed by every living thing is radioactive. When any living thing dies, it stops absorbing carbon.

Archaeologists can measure how much the radioactive carbon in organic remains has decayed and figure out when the animal or plant died

Discovering Ardi in Africa1992- Japanese paleontologist, (branch of geology

that deals with life forms from the past—study of fossils) Gen Suwa was in Ethiopia at a site called Aramis when she saw one of the oldest hominid teeth ever found. Later along with his team uncovered arm bones, skull, and jaws that belonged to 17 individuals that were about 4.4 million years old and came from the oldest direct human ancestor known!

65 pounds and 4 feet tall (upright?)

Hominids

General term used consistently by archaeologists and paleontologists for humans and any member of the species of animal we are most closely evolved from including

a. Homo neanderthalensis

b. Australopithicus

c. Ardipithecus

Homo neanderthalensisNeander Valley, Germany. The material recovered consisted of

a skull cap, two femora, the three right arm bones, two of the left arm bones, and fragments of a scapula and ribs. These fossils were recovered by the quarry workers and set aside to be given to a local teacher. The find was announced jointly in 1857, two years before Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

AustralopithicusThis was ‘Lucy’! Found in East Africa –

Ethiopia. She was a complete skeleton being 3 feet 4 inches tall. "Lucy" resembles a chimpanzee with some human characteristics. For example, the way the hip joint and pelvis articulate indicates that "Lucy" walked upright like a human, not like a chimp.

ArdipithecusForests of Ethiopia

Oldest known Hominid

Evolution vs Creation

Or God may have created the universe

Through the process of evolution

Which are you evolution? Creation? Or both?

Can science and faith work together?

Read the four creation stories

1. Summarize each one

2. Categorize each as one that is more realistic/farfetched/interesting/strange

3. List key features in each of the creation stories