User:Abyssal/Prehistory of Africa

The Prehistory of Africa Portal In general... Olduvai Gorge, where some of the earliest hominins are believed to have evolved. Africa has the longest record of human habitation in the world. The first hominins emerged 6–7 million years ago, and among the earliest anatomically modern human skulls found so far were discovered at Omo Kibish,Jebel Irhoud, and Florisbad. European archaeology, as well as that of North Africa, is generally divided into the Stone Age (comprising the Lower Paleolithic, the Middle Paleolithic, the Upper Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic), the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. For Africa south of the Sahara, African archaeology is classified in a slightly different way, with the Paleolithic generally divided into the Early Stone Age, the Middle Stone Age, and the Later Stone Age. After these three stages come the Pastoral Neolithic, the Iron Age and then later historical periods. Africa's prehistory has been largely ignored, with the exception of research into early human evolution. However, it is overseen by the PanAfrican Archaeological Association, whose members consist of professional archaeologists from all over Africa. (Full article...) Selected article on prehistoric Africa Artistic restoration of a Rodrigues starling The Rodrigues starling (Necropsar rodericanus) is an extinct species of starling that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Rodrigues. Its closest relatives were the Mauritius starling and the hoopoe starling from nearby islands; all three appear to be of Southeast Asian origin. The bird was only reported by French sailor Julien Tafforet, who was marooned on the island from 1725 to 1726. Tafforet observed it on the offshore islet of Île Gombrani. Subfossil remains found on the mainland were described in 1879, and were suggested to belong to the bird mentioned by Tafforet. There was much confusion about the bird and its taxonomic relations throughout the 20th century. The Rodrigues starling was 25–30 centimetres (10–12 inches) long, and had a stout beak. It was described as having a white body, partially black wings and tail, and a yellow bill and legs. Little is known about its behaviour. Its diet included eggs and dead tortoises, which it processed with its strong bill. Predation by rats introduced to the area was probably responsible for the bird's extinction some time in the 18th century. It first became extinct on mainland Rodrigues, then on Île Gombrani, its last refuge. (see more...) Selected article on the prehistory of Africa in human science, culture and economics Jaw fragment of Ambondro mahabo. The history of paleontology traces the history of the effort to understand the history of life on Earth by studying the fossil record left behind by living organisms. Since it is concerned with understanding living organisms of the past paleontology can be considered to be a field of biology, but its historical development has been closely tied to geology and the effort to understand the history of the Earth itself. In ancient times Xenophanes (570-480 BC), Herodotus (484-425 BC), Eratosthenes (276-194 BC), and Strabo (64 BC-24 AD), wrote about fossils of marine organisms indicating that land was once under water. During the Middle Ages, fossils were discussed by the Persian naturalist, Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in Europe), in The Book of Healing (1027), which proposed a theory of petrifying fluids that Albert of Saxony would elaborate on in the 14th century. The Chinese naturalist Shen Kuo (1031–1095) would propose a theory of climate change based on evidence from petrified bamboo. In early modern Europe, the systematic study of fossils emerged as an integral part of the changes in natural philosophy that occurred during the Age of Reason. The nature of fossils and their relationship to life in the past became better understood during the 17th and 18th centuries, and at the end of the 18th century the work of Georges Cuvier ended a long running debate about the reality of extinction and led to the emergence of paleontology, in association with comparative anatomy, as a scientific discipline. The expanding knowledge of the fossil record also played an increasing role in the development of geology, particularly stratigraphy. In 1822 the word "paleontology" was invented by the editor of a French scientific journal to refer to the study of ancient living organisms through fossils, and the first half of the 19th century saw geological and paleontological activity become increasingly well organized with the growth of geologic societies and museums and an increasing number of professional geologists and fossil specialists. This contributed to a rapid increase in knowledge about the history of life on Earth, and progress towards definition of the geologic time scale largely based on fossil evidence. As knowledge of life's history continued to improve, it became increasingly obvious that there had been some kind of successive order to the development of life. This would encourage early evolutionary theories on the transmutation of species. After Charles Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859, much of the focus of paleontology shifted to understanding evolutionary paths, including human evolution, and evolutionary theory. The last half of the 19th century saw a tremendous expansion in paleontological activity, especially in North America. The trend continued in the 20th century with additional regions of the Earth being opened to systematic fossil collection, as demonstrated by a series of important discoveries in China near the end of the 20th century. Many transitional fossils have been discovered, and there is now considered to be abundant evidence of how all classes of vertebrates are related, much of it in the form of transitional fossils. The last few decades of the 20th century saw a renewed interest in mass extinctions and their role in the evolution of life on Earth. There was also a renewed interest in the Cambrian explosion that saw the development of the body plans of most animal phyla. The discovery of fossils of the Ediacaran biota and developments in paleobiology extended knowledge about the history of life back far before the Cambrian. (see more...) Need help? Do you have a question about Abyssal/Prehistory of Africa that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk. Selected image A cast of the holotype cranium of the Sahelanthropus tchadensis in semi-profile view. This specimen is catalogued as TM 266-01-060-1 and popularly known by the nickname Toumaï. Photo credit: Didier Descouens Did you know? ... that the ammonite Hildoceras bifrons (pictured) has been used as an index fossil to help identify the age of rocks? ...that the Sao civilisation is the earliest to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon? ... that Aegirocassis is the earliest example of massive filter-feeder animals discovered? ... that Archaeoindris (pictured), a recently extinct giant lemur from Madagascar, was the largest known lemur, comparable in size to a male gorilla? ... that the extinct ant Afropone was first described from fossils in kimberlite? Things you can do Desired articles, sorted by how frequently linked to: Kufra Basin Douala Basin Todi Shear Zone Somali Coastal Basin Rio del Rey Basin Broodkop Shear Zone Western Meseta Shear Zone Foreland Karoo Basin Chuan Shear Zones Atbara rift Orange River Basin Tanzania Coastal Basin Sangha aulacogen Reggane Basin Lamu Embayment Gabon Basin Geology of Africa Geology of Tristan da Cunha Geology of the Canary Islands Geology of Melilla Frank Skeels Sileshi Semaw Nomtsas Formation Amuq point Kaoko Belt Dahhak ibn Jandal Baharîje Formation Madumabisa Mudstone Acacia elatior El-Amrah Urusis Formation Pietermaritzburg Formation Dwyka Formation Bernard Ngeneo Zaris Formation Werner Kaiser (Egyptologist) Dwyka Shale Vryheid Formation Loita Hills As Duma Allia Bay Levalloiso-Mousterian Dabis Formation Somali Basin Pentoxylales Deir Tasa Peter Nzube Subcategories Prehistory of Africa Prehistoric Africa Geology of Africa Fossils of Africa Prehistoric life of Africa Precambrian Africa Related content Prehistory of North America Prehistory of South America Prehistory of Antarctica Prehistory of Asia Prehistory of Europe Prehistory of Oceania Africa Archaeology Earth sciences Paleontology Extinct and Endangered Species Paleozoic Mesozoic Cenozoic Dinosaurs Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Africa Prehistory Category:Portals with titles not starting with a proper noun Africa