Senior University Georgetown Winter 2013 Creating Pathways for Ancient Peoples Session 1

CREATING PATHWAYS FOR ANCIENT PEOPLES Join Don and the Vagabonds as we travel the pathways of ancient peoples. Don will describe the geology influencing the emergence of the first pre-humans in Africa. He’ll follow the path of human migration from the Great Rift Valley through Europe, Asia, and into the Americas. He’ll explain the crucial role geology played in the movement of ancient peoples as early civilizations searched for natural resources. Join Don and the Vagabonds as we travel the pathways of ancient peoples. Don will describe the geology influencing the emergence of the first pre-humans in Africa. He’ll follow the path of human migration from the Great Rift Valley through Europe, Asia, and into the Americas. He’ll explain the crucial role geology played in the movement of ancient peoples as early civilizations searched for natural resources. The Vagabonds will take you to their favorite sites where early humans and ancient civilizations thrived - from South Africa through Europe and Asia into the ‘new world’ of Alaska and Newfoundland. Come meet Mrs Ples, Little Foot, the Banpo, Zinj, Turkana Man and other early humans as we follow these ancient pathways together! Course Outline

Week 1 – Emergence of Humans – East African Rift  Geology (Don)  Geologic overview creating Africa  Geology of East Africa Rift  1 st pre-humans (Homo Sapiens) – why east Africa?  Vagabonds meet ‘ Handy Man ’ (Sandi)  Oluvai Gorge Anthropological site - Tanzania  Laetoli Archeological site Week 2 – The Path out of the East African Rift – South and North  Geology (Don)  Why early peoples leave central Africa  Influence of rivers/river deltas to emerging civilizations  Vagabonds meet ‘ Mrs Ples ’ and ‘ Little Foot ’ (Sandi)  Sterkfontein anthropological site - South Africa Course Outline

Week 3 – The Path to Europe  Geology: (Don)  Why early peoples move into Europe  Presence/absence of minerals/metals to emerging civilizations  Vagabonds meet the Stone Age People (Rocky)  La Grotte de Lascaux archeological site – France Week 4 – The Path to Asia  Geology (Don)  Why early peoples move into Asia  The search for resources  Vagabonds meet the Neolithic Age People (Rocky)   Banpo anthropological site – China  Zian archeological site - China Course Outline

Week 6 – The Path across America  Geology (Don)  Why early people move into eastern North America  Coming from the east – Atlantic Ocean crossing from Europe/Iceland  Or, coming from the west - land crossing via the Beringia  Vagabonds meet the Vikings (Rocky)  Stonehenge of New Hampshire L’Anse aux Meadows archeological site Week 5 – The Path to the Americas  Geology (Don)  Geology of Beringia  Pathways into & across the Americas  Vagabonds meet ‘ On-Your - Knees ’ caveman (Sandi)  Beringia Museum – Yukon, Canada  Prince of Wales Island anthropological site - Alaska Course Outline But first, Geology in the News

Geology in the News From the New York Times Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 How high Can the Tides Go? Ancient shorelines indicate oceans can be expected to flood much of our present coast lines as world-wide temperatures increase due, in part, to human activity Action now to reduce our burning o f fossil fuels is essential to preventing this catastrophic flooding Now to Course Resources

Course Resources Google Earth Hammond Citation World Atlas, 1972 Natural Resources Maps Example of Hammond Natural Resources Maps

South Africa What natural resources will we be looking for on these maps? The natural resources that make world empires and powers 1. Large areas of farmland 2. Deposits of copper and tin 3. Deposits of iron and coal 4. Deposits of oil and uranium Example of Hammond Natural Resources Maps Southern Africa

Example: Hammond Atlas Natural Resources Maps Why have we highlighted copper, tin, iron & coal? We will try to convince you that these natural resource shaped & continues to shape human history Copper Tin Iron Coal What else do we post on these maps? The Tropics Why do we post the tropics? Farm land

The Tropics Climate Zone; Eastern Hemisphere No world power or empire or religion has ever been created in the tropics Why do we post the tropics? Back to why do we postulate that deposits of copper, tin, iron, coal, and oil have shaped human history Let’s look at how archeologists divide human history

Archeological Division of Historic Time Iron, Coal, Petroleum, & Uranium Age 1950 to Present Iron, Coal, & Oil Age 1900 to 1950 AD Iron & Coal: Industrial Age 1700 to 1830 AD Iron & Coal: Renaissance 1450 to 1700 AD Iron & Coal: Middle Ages 470 to 1450 AD Iron Age 2 Rome to 470 AD 750 BCE 750 BCE Iron Age 1 Greece 1400 to 750 BCE Bronze Age 3300 to 1400 BCE Copper Age 3300 to 3000 BCE Stone Age (end of Ice Age) 70,000 to 3300 BCE Copper & tin Copper Flint & Obsidian Iron Iron-Coal Iron, Coal, Oil What does Google Earth add to our knowledge?

Ocean depths & up close farming & grazing areas What dos Google Earth add to our knowledge? The Tropics Looking for farm land on Google Earth

Google Earth: Focus on Zimbabwe (former Southern Rhodesia): Looking for farming areas Area 1 Area 2

Looking for farming areas on Google Earth, Area 1

Looking for farming areas on Google Earth, Area 2 Why are we interested in farming and grazing areas? They along with iron, coal, and oil have shaped human history from the beginning Some references you might want of explore

References: sciences/ sedimentary-geology-spring-2007/lecture- notes/ch11.pdf Focus on the east African country of Tanzania Where will Sandi take us today? Hammond Citation World Atlas, 1972, Natural Resources Maps

In the Beginning Where will Sandi take us today Tanzania Tanzania up close

gold diamonds In the Beginning Where will Sandi take us today What natural resources does Tanzania have? Let’s check the Hammond Atlas No major rivers, mostly grazing land but note the long narrow lakes

Tanzania Tanzania: Located on a large, “orange” plateau (aka regional geological uplift) Note: A second uplift to the north of Tanzania Note: A third uplift much less well defined south of Tanzania What’s going on here in the east half of the African Continent?

What’s going on here in the east half of the African Continent? The east half of Africa & Saudi Arabia are breaking away from the rest of Aftica! Why? Because the east half of Africa & Saudi Arabia are above an up-welling heat convection cell in the earth’s mantle What is the earth’s mantle & a convection cell?

Oceanic Crust Continental Crust Ocean Next, the heat convection cells in the mantle 3-D Schematic View of the Earth Radio-active heat generated here Mantle convection cells here

New Oceanic Crust being formed Old Oceanic Crust being destroyed (melted) Notice the convection cells in the mantle Another view Ocean 3 miles deep

Mantle Convection Cells Moving Crustal Plates Heated Cooled Mantle convection cells define the crustal plates of the earth Next, the earth’s crustal plates

Earth Plates defined by Convection Cells Next, a cartoon of a convection cell in action A new plate being formed by breakup of Africa

New oceanic crust is constantly being formed by molten rock extruded in oceanic ridges the deep oceans along the oceanic ridges Ocean 3 miles deep What happens when the convection cell is under continental crust rather than oceanic crust? Next week: We leave the East African Rift and go to the country of South Africa