ANTH 196 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Relative Dating, Thermoluminescence, Ardi
Document Summary
Paleoanthropology is the study of the biological and geological background of human evolution. Paleoanthropologists rely on fossils and bones to try and reconstruct and infer things about organisms and societies (if any) of the past. The earth is approximately 4. 6 billion years old; however, life on earth actually began approximately 3. 6 years ago. The cenozoic era is the time that anthropologists are most concerned with. The cenozoic era - 65 million years ago (mya) to present: Includes the tertiary and quaternary periods - 65 mya to 1. 8 mya and 1. 8 mya to present, respectively. The tertiary period includes the following epochs: paleocene (65-53 mya), eocene (53-35 mya), oligocene (35-23 mya), miocene (23-5 mya), and pliocene (5-1. 8 mya) The quaternary period includes the following epochs: pleistocene (1. 8 mya to 10,000 years ago) and holocene (10,000 years ago to the present) Rise of mammals took place in this era because dinosaurs were wiped out in previous era.
