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Humans in the Universe13 Billion – 200,000 Years Ago

Big Era One

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Welcome, fellow time travelers!

Me llamo “Mundo!” Nice tomake your acquaintance. I don’t

know how you found me, but Ithink you’ll be glad you did.

Since you’re here and so am I,let’s take a little trip, huh?

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I’m glad you’re here!People have been kind of

ignoring me lately, so I’vebeen thinking a lot and

wanted to share this storyI’ve been writing. It’s aboutme, of course (it’s my story,

right?), but it’s about you,too...

Let me start with a coupleof questions I’ve beenthinking about...

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Where did

our Earthcome from?

How did

the universecome to be?

How & when

did we humansappear on Earth?

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Deep questions, huh?

Yeah, but I’m not the onlyone asking them...

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All peoples have explanations of our origins.

The Maidu people, native to California, saythat Earth Starter made the world fromsome green slime Turtle brought up fromdeep underwater. He made humans fromred earth mixed with water.

… And the Chinese used tosay that Phan Ku – no

thing, not yet born – burstfrom a hen’s egg andbecame the Great Creator .

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Scientists offer a different explanation, based onevidence gathered from sources on earth and in space.

Here’s what they might say:Long ago, there was no time...

There was no space...

But 13 billion years ago...

things changed.

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Where there had beennothing, now there waseverything. The wholeuniverse – tiny, andfantastically hot.

For an instant, itexpanded faster than thespeed of light. Then itslowed down but keptexpanding, as it still is.

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As the universe cooled down,clouds of hydrogen andhelium gas began to gathertogether, their centersgetting hotter and hotter.

Big Bang

13b

ilyrsago

Big Era 1

Big Eras

2-9

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And when theywere hot enough, thehydrogen atoms beganto fuse together withthe power of millions of hydrogen bombs.

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STARSWERE BORN!

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They clustered togetherin vast galaxies, eachcontaining billions of these new stars.

I can’tsee usyet...

Stars & Galaxies

12 bil yrs ago

Big Bang

13b

ilyrsago

Big Era 1

Big

Eras

2-9

Big Era 1Big Era 1

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Four and a half billion yearsago – when the universewas already two-thirds asold as it is today – a starwas born near the edge of agalaxy we call the MilkyWay:

OUR SUN!

Our Sun & Planets

4.6 bil yrs ago

Big Bang

13bilyrs

ago

Big Era 1

Big

Eras

2-9

Stars&

Galaxies

12bilyrs

ago

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Around the sun, wisps of matter were drawn together by theforces of gravity to create the planets of our solar system…

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…Including the thirdrock from the sun:

OUR EARTH!

What aWhat acute baby,cute baby,

huh?huh?

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The early earth wasincredibly HOT .

Heavier metals meltedand sank to the center,lighter metals rose to

the surface, and gasesbubbled up to make theearth’s firstatmosphere.

Anybody gotsomething for

a stomachache?

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By four billion yearsago, the earth hadcooled enough forwater to condense intooceans. And so theearth turned blue.

The surface hardenedinto thin “plates”floating on the moltenmaterials underneath.Those “plates” float on

the surface to this day,constantly changing thelandscapes and weatherpatterns on the earth’ssurface.

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Where the plates collided, greatmountains were formed...

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...and where they toreapart, melted rockpoured out from underthe surface.

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Deep within the newlyformed oceans,complex chemicals

were created usingvolcanic heat forenergy.

Some of thesechemicals became sohighly organized thatthey formed cells – thefirst LIFE ON EARTH !

FirstLife

3.8 bilyrs ago

Big Bang

13bilyrsago

Big Era 1

Big

Eras

2-9

OurSun

&Planets

4.6bilyrs ago

Stars&

Galaxies

12bilyrsago

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Living organisms changedthe atmosphere, addingoxygen. Cells developedthat could “breathe”oxygen...

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...and, about 600 millionyears ago, the first multi-cellular organisms arosein the earth’s oceans.

Big Era 1

3.8bilyrs

ago

FirstLife

Big Bang

13b

ilyrsago

Ou

rSun

&Planets

4.6bilyrs

ago

Stars&

Galaxies

12b

ilyrsago

Multi-CelledOrganisms

600myrs ago

BigEras2-9

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The first animals appearednot too long after!

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After a while, some

animals moved out of theoceans and onto the land.

First Lifeon Land

400myrs ago

FirstLife

3.8bilyrs ago

250kyrsago

Today

Scale of Life on Earth

Big

Eras

2-9

Multi-Celled

Organisms

600m yrs ago

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Dinosaurs were the mostsuccessful of the earlyland animals...

FirstDinosaurs

220m yrs ago

FirstLife

on

Land

400m yrs ago

250kyrsago

Today

Scale of Life on Land

Big

Eras

2-9

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...but about 65 millionyears ago, a giantmeteor came crashingdown to earth...

...and the dinosaurswere no more!

Dinosaurs Disappear

67m yrs ago

First

Dinosaurs

220m yrs ago

FirstLife

on

Land

400m yrs ago

250kyrsago

Today

Scale of Life on Land

Big

Eras

2-9

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MAMMALS!

This left a new class of animals dominant on the land.

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Over time, a particulargroup of mammals

emerged that lived intrees.

To survive in thatenvironment, thesemammals needed 3Dvision and large brains toprocess visualinformation. They alsoneeded hands that couldgrip with precision.(Imagine living in a treewithout any of these.You’d fall out!)

These mammals were thefirst PRIMATES .

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Then, about 7 million years ago in Africa, abranch of those primates became the first tostand upright.

These were the first HOMINIDS . Different

hominids lived on earth over the next 7 millionyears, some at the same time as others, but onlyone survives to this day...

US!!!30

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FirstHominids

7m yrsago

The earliest hominidslived in small, family-sized groups. Theygathered plants, insects,and small animals, andthey occasionallyscavenged the meat of

larger animals killed bypredators.

Dinosaurs

Disappear

67m yrsago

250kyrsago

Today

Scale of Life after the Dinosaurs

Big

Eras

2-9

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4 – 1.5m yrs ago

Australopithecines

7m yrsago

First

Hominids

250kyrsago

Today

The first hominids hadbrains about the size of a modern chimp’s. Over

time, new speciesdeveloped ever-largerbrains, and they beganto make more and morecomplex tools. The

Australopithecines likely used sharp sticksto dig for food...

Big

Eras

2-9

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Homo habilis

2.4 – 1.6m yrs ago

250kyrsago

Today

4m yrsago

Australopithecines

1.5m yrsago

Big

Eras

2-9

...while Homo habilishominids , a laterspecies, were able to

make stone tools. Theychipped ‘flakes’ of stone from large rocksand used those flakesas knives. They also

used the leftover ‘core’to scrape out hides anddo other jobs.

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34250kyrsago

Today

4m yrsago

Australopithecines

1.5m yrsago

Homo habilis

2.4m yrsago

1.6m yrsago

Big

Eras

2-9

Homo erectus hominids , which lived on Earth foralmost two millionyears, were probablythe first ones who couldcontrol and use fire.They were alsothe first to leave Africa.

Their fossils have beenfound as far away asChina and Java (inmodern Indonesia).

Homo erectus

1.8m – 27k yrs ago

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Social relationshipsamong our ancestorswere complex. Like

modern chimpanzees,early hominids musthave been quite clever,with a great deal of social cooperation andgroup politics. Theycared for each other,especially their children.

WOW! Theseearly ancestors

of ours sound a

lot like us!

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Well, in some waysthat’s true – but thisspecies was different inmany other respectsfrom our species. Wehave no evidence, forexample, that they had

art, religion, orlanguage.

ART RELIGION LANGUAGE

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So, what’s sospecial about

us? What

makes usHUMAN, andhow did we

BECOMEhuman?

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End of Big Era One

Well, you’ll just

have to wait for BIG ERA TWO toget the answer tothose questions!