Things That Changed The World

Early humans record the passing of time. The earliest known lunar calendar is in the caves at Lascaux, Southwest France, and dates from around 15,000 B.C.E. Various series of spots represent half of the moon's near-monthly cycle, followed by a large empty square, which perhaps indicates a clear sky. A lunar calendar counts months (a period of 29.530588 days) and is based on the phases of the moon. Months have twenty-nine and thirty days alternately, and additional days are added every now and then to keep step with the actual moon phase. The lunar calendar was widely used in parts of the ancient world for religious observation. Agriculturally the lunar calendar is confusing as it takes no account of annual seasonal variations in temperature, daylight length, plant growth, annual migration, and mating. The lunar month divides into solar year twelve times but with 10.88 days remaining.     Meton of Athens (circa 440 B.C.E.) noticed that nineteen solar years were

Early humans discover how to retain their caught fish. The major problem with dating inventions earlier than the written word is that there are no first-hand accounts documenting their conception or use Paleoarcheologists have the difficult task of piecing together the prehistory of man based on scarps of physical evidence left behind by our ancient ancestors. the fishhook is one such igneous conception of early man and is probably more important to the success of humans than most of us would suspect.   The earliest examples of fishhooks so far found by archaeologists date from around 35,000 B.C.E. Appearing well before the advent of metalworking, early fishhooks were fashioned from durable materials of organic origin such as bone, shells, animal hon, and wood. With the addition of a variety of baits on the hook, the prehistoric man gained access, previously largely denied, to an easy source of energy loaded with protein and fat. adding fish to his die also ensured a healt

Humans learn to kill with sharpened poles. The earliest example of a sharpened wooden pole, or spear, comes from Schoningen in Germany. There, eight spears were dated to 400,000 B.C.E. The ancient hominid hunters who sharpened each pole used a flint shaver to cut away the tip to form a point and then singed the tip in the fire to harden the wood, making it a more effective weapon. A similar technique was used by hunters in Lehringen near Bermen in Germany, where a complete spear was found embedded inside a mammoth skeleton, suggesting such spears were used mainly for hunting rather than warfare or self-defense. The need for food was so great that a mammoth would be attacked with only a flimsy spear, although its use would be attacked with only a flimsy spear, although its use would have been more to scare the mammoth in the direction of a trap or pit dug previously than to attack it directly.            Around 60,000 B.C.E., Neanderthals living in rock shelters and temporary

Early humans cover their nakedness. Around400,000 years ago, Homo sapiens devised a solution to protect the vulnerable naked human body from the environment- clothes. Anthropologists believe the earliest clothing was made from the fur of hunted animals or leaves creatively wrapped around the body to keep out the cold, wind, and rain.       Determining the date of this invention is difficult, although sewing needles made from animal bone dating from about 30,000 B.C.E. have been found by archeologists. However, genetic analysis of human body lice reveals that they evolved at the same time as clothing. Scientists originally thought the lice evolved 107,000 years ago, but further investigations placed their evolution a few hundred thousand years earlier.         Clothing has changed dramatically over the centuries, although its ancient role as an outward indication of the status, wealth, and beliefs of the wearer is an important as ever. During the Industrial Revolution the

Homo heidelbergensis builds the first hut. ...next to agriculture,[shelter] is the most necessary to man. One must et, one must have shelter.       The earliest evidence for build shelter appears to have been constructed by Homo heidelbergensis , who lived in Europe between around 800,000 B.C.E. and 200,000 B.C.E. Anthropologists are uncertain whether these were ancestors of Homo sapiens (Humans) or Homo neanderthalensis    (Neanderthals) or both.              At the french site of Terra Amata, which dates back around 400,000 years, archeologists have found what they believe to be the foundations of large oval huts. One of these shows evidence of fire in a hearth, although other archeologists postulate that natural processes could be responsible. Archeology on sites from hundreds of thousands of years ago is complicated. Claims of the discovery of built shelters in japan from more than 500,000 years ago were discredited in 2000. In fact, all evidence for humans in ja

Homo erectus harness lightning. " Fire is an essential tool, control of which helped to start the human race on its path to civilization." The original source of fire was probably lightning and for generation blazes ignited in this manner remained the only source of fire. Initially Peking Man. who lived around 500,000 B.C.E., was believed to be the earliest user of fire, but evidence uncovered in Kenya in 1981, and in South Africa in 1988, suggests that the earliest controlled use of fire by hominids dates from about 1,420,000 years ago. Fires were kept alive permanently because of the difficulty of reigniting them, being allowed to burn by day and damped down at night. Flint struck against pyrites or friction methods were the most widespread methods of producing fire among primitive people. The first human beings to control fire used it to keep warm, cook their food, and ward off predators. It also enabled them to survive in regions previousl

Early humankind ushers in the age of inventions . Stone Age humans became adept at chipping flakes of hard, volcanic rocks to make tools and weapons.   The very first human invention consisted of sharp flints, found and used in their natural state by primitive peoples, who then went on to purposely sharpen stones. The practice reaches back to the very dawn of humankind; stone tools found in 1969 in Kenya are estimated to be 2,600,000 years old.    The principal types of tools, which appeared in the Paleolithic period, and varied in size and appearance, are known as core, flake, and blade tools. The core tools are the largest and most primitive, and were made by working on a fist-sized piece of rock or stone (core) with a similar rock (hammerstone) and knocking large flakes off one side to produce a sharp crest. This was a general-purpose implement used for hacking, pounding, or cutting. Eventually, thinner and sharper core tools were developed, which were more useful. Much lat