From late in the Triassic period ( about 225 million years ago ) until the end of the Mesozoic era ( about 65 million years ago ) Dinosaurs roamed the earth. At that time Fire was most likely created by lightning striking the earth.

For more than 150 million years, dinosaurs were the dominant life forms on planet Earth. Scientific debate continues over the cause of the dinosaur extinction. Was it the result of the cataclysmic impact of a meteor hitting the Earth? Did it come about because of a sudden shift in climate?.

There are dozens of theories to explain a probable cause or causes. Throughout the Mesozoic Era, individual dinosaur species were evolving and becoming extinct for various reasons. The unusually massive extinction at the end of the Cretaceous exterminated the last of the dinosaurs, the flying reptiles, and the large swimming reptiles, as well as many other marine animals.

There is now widespread evidence that a meteorite impact was at least the partial cause for this extinction.

Some recent findings from the small Mexican village of Chicxulub have given scientists new hope that the answer may soon be known. The story starts in the town of Gubbio, Italy, where geologist Walter Alvarez was collecting sediment from a layer of rock which marked the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary time periods. Geologists had long known that this boundary was important because it marked a period in the Earth's history,

A major problem with this theory, however, was that a 10-kilometer meteorite would leave a very large crater, between 150 and 200 kilometers (93-124 miles) in diameter. A Mexican oil company drilling off the coast of Yucatan discovered what appeared to be a crater about one kilometer (0.6 miles) under the surface near the village of Chicxulub. When core samples were analyzed, they showed the crater to be about 180 kilometers (112 miles) in diameter and 65 million years old. Was this the cause of the dinosaurs' extinction? The jury is still out, but evidence strongly suggests that the case of the disappearing dinosaurs may finally be solved.

About 3 million year ago, the earth was populated with deer, giraffes, hyenas, cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, gazelles, horses, elephants, rhinoceroses, camels, ground squirrels, beavers, cave lions, ants, termites, porpoises, whales, dogs with huge teeth, and sabre-toothed tigers! Giant sharks, about 42 feet long, were plentiful. There were all kinds of birds and plants and fish, similar to birds, plants and fish today. (Dinosaurs,died out about 65 million years ago. They were long gone.) About this same time in history, around 3 million years ago, the higher primates, including apes and early man, first appeared.

This was the beginning of the Stone Age, and the dawn of early man. This period of time is called the Stone Age because these very early men created tools made of stone. The Stone Age ran from about 2 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago, which was the end of the Ice Age. As far as we know, Man had to get smart to survive. The Homo habilis man is credited with creating stone tools to help live more comfortably, and to better protect themselves against the many carnivore (meat eating) animals of the time.They sheltered under cliffs, whenever possible. You might think they would look for caves to spend the night, but caves quite often had dangerous occupants, just as they do today. Since they did not have fire-making skills, they had to wait until they found something burning from natural causes, set aflame, for example, from a lightening strike.



A campfire had to be carefully watched, because if the fire went out, they did not know how to start it again. The area around the campfire was probably used as a sleeping area. A roaring campfire would keep most wild animals away, as most are afraid of fire. When they broke camp, they probably attempted to bring their fire with them by carrying several lit branches, with which to start a new campfire when they stopped again. If their branches went out, they did without fire until they found something burning somewhere.




1,600,000 B.C. to about 300,000 B.C.

These early men learned to make fire! They traveled over land bridges from Africa, and began to populate the world, about 1 million years ago.



It took man another 200,000 years to grow up. Homo erectus man had fire-making skills. Like all new, major inventions, this discovery changed life dramatically. Why was the ability to make fire so important? As man had already discovered, most animals were afraid of fire, so a roaring campfire gave protection to the group or tribe. If their fire went out, they could relight it. They could choose where they camped. Control of fire made moving into colder regions possible,It also changed the way they prepared food. These people began to cook their food, Food that is cooked is much softer to eat. As a result, it would have been easier for the young and the old to survive. Thanks to their fire-making skills, a nightly campfire became a routine.

People would collect around the fire each night, to share stories of the day's hunt and activities, to laugh, and to relax. About one million years ago, these people began to travel to other continents. The Ice Age was here! There were natural bridges of solid, frozen ice and land, that allowed them to travel over what would later be vast rivers and seas. Some of these walkways were a hundred miles wide! These early people wandered from Africa to Europe and Asia, and from Asia to America, probably in search of food.





Homo Sapiens "Wise Man"

500,000 B.C. to 30,000 B.C.

Homo sapien skulls grew more forward than those of Homo erectus man, These early men were hunters & gatherers. They created stone tools, bone needles, and bone fish hooks. They sewed clothes from animal skins with thread made from other parts of the animal. They made warm boots. One of the species of early man during this period was Homo Neandertalensis, the Neandertal man, named after the valley in which the skeleton of an old man was discovered (Neander Tal).

Neandertals were different from other species of early man. They were much taller, and very strong. They had an almost modern mentality. They were adept at fire-making. They buried they dead with ceremony, which suggests they may have had religious beliefs. The Neandertals died out around 30,000 B.C. Nobody knows why they disappeared. Considering how smart they were, and how advanced for their time, it's an especially fascinating puzzle!

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