• Lucy is an early ancestor of humanity, about three million years old. Her skeleton is noteworthy forits pelvis and femur, suggesting an upright walking similar to that of humans. Named for the Beatles song, she became famous after her discovery was published by Donald Johanson.

• Homo erectus, or “upright man,” moved from the jungles of Africa after a cool, dry spell. Unable to climb trees easily, as evidenced by their fossilized feet, they could stabilize fully upright without going prone. This made them able to walk for long distances. These ancestors of humanity would craft tools known as Acheulian (ah-SHOI-lee-yan). They also developed the use of fire in small camp groups based in cave entrances or overhangs. Their brain was only about half the size of modern humans. These were the first widespread distribution of the genus Homo in the Old World, known as the first “out of Africa.”

• Homo neanderthalensis, often called just Neanderthals, are named after the valley their fossilized remains were found in Germany during the nineteenth century. A non-African genus, likely arising from homo erectus who had settled in Europe, they could talk. However, it was likely rudimentary at best, as anatomical structuring of their throat suggest simple laryngeal folds (voice-box). These near relatives had a culture, burying their dead and developing Mousterian style tools . These tools were more big game orientated, taking advantage of their strength to wield larger weapons. As they were in the north, the climate of their region required more skins to wear to keep warm. Hence, they also developed tanning processes of leather and were not as simple as once thought. Homo sapiens of today with European descent also suggest that ancestors interbred with Neanderthals. So much so, that about 2.7% of their DNA is still represented in European descendant humans today.

• With the end of the Ice Age, the landscapes of the world change and affect humanity’s ability to travel. Coastal flooding at the Dogger Bank, once a plain and now a shallow area in North Sea, cut animal, plant, and human, populations off from another. As water continues to cover the land over the years, coastal settlements have to be abandoned, and much of the Doggerlandarea is now at the bottom of the North Sea.

• In Kennewick, WA, bones and a skull were found that dated to about 9,000 years ago. Forensics originally suggested a person of Ainu descent, of Japan, rather than Amerindian when analyzed in the mid-20th century. DNA later determined the person was Amerindian descent. This is significant as it establishes Amerindians formed as a unique population about 23,000 years ago, placing their origins further back than thought and reinforcing that our knowledge of the past is always changing.

• One of the largest ungulates to ever live, the Irish Elk is so named due to the fact most of the surviving remains have been found in Irish Bogs. Nonetheless, they were widely distributed across the world. Nearly 7 feet tall at the withers, with 12-foot-wide antlers weighing up to 90 pounds, these creatures grew to be about half ton of animal. They went extinct during the Holocene for potentially many reasons. Some hunting from humans likely stressed the population, but did not destroy it. What is more likely is that the antlers were too big to navigate the new flora growing at the time. As the animals’ diets began to lack minerals due to the flora change, malnutrition set in. Bones require minerals, particularly those antlers they had which were continuous growers that never shed. Calcium and phosphate were needed in big amounts and without that, any adolescent male would grow his antlers by leaching the minerals needed from skeleton. Get two males in mating season, charging at one another or running through a forest and you have two brittle athletes coming together to break their necks as a result of osteoporosis.

• During the Holocene Extinction Event several flora and fauna died out. This had less to do, however, from human stressors and more to do with from climate change. The Steppe Bison died out in northern climates at this time, but they did likely interbred with other sub species - all also now dead. Their only living relative today is the modern Bison bison, or as Americans wrongly call them “buffalo.” This example of a steppe bison is the mummified Blue Babe, found in a mine in Alaska in 1979.