To the nearest thousand years, how long is man's history?

neelie_447

Humans (homo sapiens) have existed for approximately 200,000 years. Many experts believe that history began (and prehistory ended) in 34 BC, with the advent of cuneiform writing. The two links should be able to shed some more light on this multi-faceted question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History Sep 15 07, 10:37 AM

queproblema

We usually refer to "six thousand years of human history." This is accurate to half a millenium if written history began c. 3400 B.C.E. But the 6000 yr. notion, I believe, has little to do with Sumerian tablets and more to do with Bishop James Ussher, who declared that God created Adam on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ussher.htm Here's a book that I'll read if I get the chance: http://www.gildedfork.com/bookshelf/sixthousandyearsofbread0305.html Sep 15 07, 11:44 AM

lanfranco

Since the question did not concern "written" history, or even the history of Homo sapiens, then man's history is as old as the paleontologists can determine it to be -- and that date keeps changing. There is also some uncertainty about what constitutes a "human being". Just to clarify, cuneiform writing dates to about 3,000 BCE, not 34 BC. (I think that must have been a typo.) Archbishop Ussher is riotously entertaining but not a very good authority on the history of mankind.;-) Sep 15 07, 4:57 PM