MAP OF HISTORY
--------------

Here's something to think about.  You'll need to have an 80-column screen or
a printer to appreciate these time-lines.

  7000000   6000000   5000000   4000000   3000000   2000000   1000000      0
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-
Hominids       -----------------------------------
Australopithecus                                 ---------------------
Chart below                                                          -------
Pithecanthropus                                                       -----
Neanderthalensis & Sapiens                                                 -


  700,000   600,000   500,000   400,000   300,000   200,000   100,000      0
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-
Ice Ages       ********   *******                  *******     ************
Pithecanthropus --------------------------------------------------
Neanderthalensis                                                 ------
Sapiens                                                               -------
Agriculture                                                               ---
Chart below                                                         ---------


  70,000    60,000    50,000    40,000    30,000    20,000    10,000      0
+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+--
Ice Age          >***********************************************
Neanderthalensis >-------
Sapiens                 -----------------------------------------------------
Agriculture                                                     -------------
Cities                                                             ----------
Chart below                                                         ---------


   6000      5000      4000      3000      2000      1000       0        2000
+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+--
Bronze and Iron         *                               *
Sumerian culture               *
Deluge/Gilgamesh disasters       *
Egyptian culture rises              *
Minoan   culture rises                *
Harappa  culture rises                 *
Akkadian empire  formed                 *
Babel/Indo-European dispersal              *
Shang    dynasty                                 *

Next time you feel smug about being Homo Sapiens, compare our time-span
against that of the Australopethecines!

In preparing these maps, we came up with the following interesting dates:

6000000BC  Earliest known pre-hominids.
2500000BC  Australopithecus.  Pebble tools.
600,000BC  Start of 1st Ice Age.
           Homo Erectus Pithecanthropus.  Hand axe.  Fire.
540,000BC  End of 1st Ice Age.
480,000BC  Start of 2nd Ice Age.
430,000BC  End of 2nd Ice Age.
240,000BC  Start of 3rd Ice Age.
180,000BC  End of 3rd Ice Age.
120,000BC  Start of 4th Ice Age.
100,000BC  Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis.
50,000 BC  Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
15,000 BC  Migration to America.
11,000 BC  All races (Mongoloids, Negroids, Caucasoids, Australians) exist.
10,000 BC  End of 4th Ice Age.
 9,000 BC  Agriculture.
           Domestication of animals.
           Pottery.
           Bricks.
 8,000 BC  Cities.
           Copper.
 7,000 BC  Writing.
 4,000 BC  Bronze.
 3,250 BC  Sumerians settling in Mesopotamia.
 3,200 BC  Sumerians:  Cunieform writing.  Sexagesimal number system.
 3,000 BC  Deluge/Gilgamesh.
 2,900 BC  Xenophobia and warfare were invented around this time.
 2,750 BC  Rise of Egyptian culture.
 2,650 BC  First Egyptian pyramids.
 2,600 BC  Rise of Minoan culture on Crete.
 2,500 BC  Rise of Harappa culture in India.
           1st Dynasty of Ur and of Lagash.
 2,350 BC  Sargon I conquers Mesopotamia, parts of Syria, Asia Minor, Elam.
 2,200 BC  Infighting amongst Egyptian feudal lords.
 2,000 BC  Babel/Separation of Indo-Europeans into Satem & Kentum groups.

After this, things went a little crazy.