STS THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN POPULATION

Anthropocene — an epoch when human activities have ‘become so profound and pervasive that
they rival’

Three Stages of Anthropocene

Industrial era (1800-1945) — also called Holocene epoch

— characterized by sudden increase of carbon emissions causing
anthropogenic climate change
— These changes have become more prevalent that it eventually
exceeds the normal biogeochemical cycles leading to global
environmental change

The Great Acceleration (1945-2015)

Stewardship (present time)

But how does human completely dominate the Earth?

Early hominids or the primitive human like organisms appear in fossil record
Sahelanthropus tchadensis — Found in Chad
Ardipithecus sp.
Australopithecus sp.
Homo habilis — developed during Pleistocene epoch
Homo ergaster and H. erectus
Homosapiens — modern humans
— Appeared in Africa

What they do for living?

humans were thought to live by means of hunting and gathering

When humans started to cultivate and settle to one location, the population also started to increase
From the time of agricultural revolution up to the birth of Christ, the population rise
Currently, human population is 8 billion.
many pandemic diseases in the past such as malaria, cholera and small pox.
 Hunting and Gathering
Pebble tools - the oldest records of human activity and technology.
— crude stone tools which consist of a pebble with one end chipped
Dikika in Ethiopia - stone-tools used for consumption of meat
Lake Turkana in northern Kenya and the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia
Gona in the north-east of Ethiopia
Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania

Paleolithic Age
human started to use wood for ladders, fire, pigment (charcoal), and as digging sticks.
clothing and shelters were becoming permanent
Humans also began to eat wide variety of food, mostly meat, but generally distinguished omnivorous
Humans also developed communicative skills like speech
They also discovered how to use fire.

Human as Cultivators, Keepers, and Metal Workers

the hunting folk “Natufians” in the Middle Eastern region which includes Jordan, Syria,
Israel, Palestine and Lebanon started to build houses of stone and wood.
They also buried their dead with rituals, gathered along like communities, ground up cereals with
mortar and pestle, and made arts from animal bones.
 Beginning Holocene period — the Natufians together with various part of the world started to
domesticate rather than gather plants and hunt animals.
domestication - is the most important intervention man made in the environment
Sauer - believed that plant domestication was initiated in Southeast Asia by fishing folk

The first evidence of domestication occurred in Mediterranean lands and the Hilly Flanks of the
Middle East around
Domestication of millet in China and the maize, beans and squashes in Mesoamerica
Domestication of sheep, goats, pigs and cattle took place in the Near East and neighboring areas
the first domesticated animal was dog
Horse was first domesticated in the steppes of Kazakhstan
the chicken in South Asia and Southeast Asia including the Indus Valley and China
donkey in north-east Africa
water buffalo during the Neolithic in various regions in south and eastern Asia, and the pig in the
Middle East and China.
important development in agriculture was irrigation and the adoption of riverine agriculture
Secondary Products Revolution, the used of domesticated animals were applied in agriculture such as
ploughing

Textiles from animal fibers were also produced and used for exchanges.
The use of milk was also developed leading to pastoralism.
important development of human history is the emergence of Neolithic cultures, the mining of ores
and smelting of metals
first evidence of smelting was found in Turkey and Jordan
fossil fuels - It has expanded to the development of fossil-fueled machineries

Modern industrial and urban civilizations

during the cereal agriculture that humans were gathered in large numbers and settlements (cities)
with more institutionalized social formations like states.
cities were developed in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates
Early cities with large population number have emerged such as Nineveh with a population of
700,000, the Augustan Rome with around 1 million and the Carthage at its fall in 146 BC had
700,000 in population.
major transformation occurred in 17th century when culture and technology was revolutionized for
the arrival of major industries.
transformation was also the acceleration of human population and the development of urbanization.
In 2010, the most populous city was Tokyo in Japan with around 36.7 million followed by Delhi in
India with 22.2 million (Table 2). The Manila of Philippines was also listed with 11.6 million.
 The agglomeration of population comes with various stages of pollution in earth’s history:
pollution microbienne or pollution bacterielle, is caused by bacteria living and developing in decaying
pollution artisanale, associated with small-scale craft industries such as tanneries and potteries
pollution industrielle, involving large-scale and pervasive pollution over major centres of industrial
activity
pollution fondamentale, pollution affects the whole regions are affected like the desiccation and
subsequent salination of the Aral Sea area;

pollution foncière, vast quantities of chemicals are deliberately applied to the land as fertilizers
and biocides;
pollution accidentale, major accidents can cause pollution which is neither foreseen nor
calculable e.g. the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.