Part 2 (2/2)

12.

number of subspecies of the genus h.o.m.o h.o.m.o (man) that existed before the arrival of (man) that existed before the arrival of h.o.m.o sapiens sapiens h.o.m.o sapiens sapiens

1.

Number of women living in 150,000 BCE to whom all human mitochondrial DNA can be traced

20.

average human life expectancy 100,000 years ago

22.

average human life expectancy in Sumeria 5,000 years ago

75.

average American life expectancy in 2006 5'1”.

average height of a human male 10,000 years ago 5'9”.

average height of an American man today 1,500.

average daily caloric intake of Stone Age sh.e.l.l fisherman 10,000 years ago 2,700.

average daily caloric intake of a contemporary American man 1 in 2 chance that a newborn child would die before the age of five, 10,000 years ago 133.

number of times the word smite smite appears in the Old Testament appears in the Old Testament 190.

number of times the word wrath wrath appears in the Old Testament appears in the Old Testament 3,000.

number of years Egypt was ruled by the pharaohs 170.

number of pharaohs in that period

31.

number of dynasties that ruled Egypt in that period 20,000.

number of inscribed clay tablets found in the royal library at Ur

CHAOS AND CONTROL.

(1500 BCE500 BCE)

IN A NUTSh.e.l.l.

If you're a ”gla.s.s half empty” type of person, you might say human history has been an endless series of disasters, with sporadic breaks to let us catch our breath. And even the optimists among us have to admit that this era was a catastrophe. In fact, it got so bad that some historians call it the ancient ”Dark Ages.”

Just when it looked like everything was calming down in the wake of the Indo-European invasions, it all went to h.e.l.l again around 1500 BCE. Leading the way were mysterious peoples who attacked established civilizations across Europe and the Middle East. Some of these groups were Indo-European, but their invasions are distinct from the Indo-European or ”Aryan” migrations that began almost a thousand years earlier. For the most part, the reasons for their migrations are unknown.

In the Middle East, a group of seafaring invaders known only as the Sea Peoples invaded Egypt and the Hitt.i.te Empire of central Turkey around 1200 BCE. The Sea Peoples were the most serious threat faced by either kingdom-in fact the Hitt.i.tes collapsed. But n.o.body knows exactly where they came from, or why they suddenly invaded. Eventually the threat receded, but the chaos they created led to the rise to power of an extraordinarily cruel group of conquerors known as the a.s.syrians.

Meanwhile, to the west, the Mycenaean civilization of Greece was overthrown by foreigners (or were they?) known as Dorians. These invaders from north of Greece soon controlled most of the Greek peninsula. The Dorians and the Sea Peoples may have been one and the same, but there's no way to be sure, as so little is known about them.

Although they're not usually included in histories of the other barbarian upheavals of the time, the Jews fled Egypt during this period. They established a Jewish kingdom in Canaan, their Promised Land, but soon discovered that their neighbors there, the a.s.syrians and Babylonians, were even less friendly than the Egyptians.

And far to the south, sub-Saharan Africa saw the migration of the Bantu people from modern-day Nigeria into the rainforests of Central Africa-and beyond. Like the a.s.syrians in the Middle East, the Bantu were helped by iron weapons, which gave them a tactical advantage over Stone Age peoples from the Congo River to South Africa.

The chaos didn't affect every part of the planet. During this same time, China enjoyed a long period of stability under the Zhou Dynasty, and Central America saw the flowering of its first civilization, the Olmecs, who created a glittering urban culture with traditions later embraced by the Mayans and the Aztecs.

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