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WATCH: Era 2 Overview

Physically modern humans evolved over a long time and alongside other, related species. Our ability to use and make tools gave our ancestors the ability to spread to new environments. Our ability to share information and produce symbols helped us to master those environments. Gradually, people populated almost the whole world. But populations remained small until the development of farming. Farming allowed us to produce more calories, feed more people, and eventually build villages and towns. Yet there is some evidence that early farmers had more difficult lives than foragers.

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Created by World History Project.

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  • piceratops sapling style avatar for user Ritwik_Singh
    At , it says we crossed bodies of water to populate Oceania. How were we able to cross bodies of water 100,000 years ago?
    (9 votes)
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    • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user Hecretary Bird
      I think that the figure is a little bit off. It's very likely that we didn't have the technology to cross oceans or anything, but instead, evidence suggests that we crossed shorted gaps of water instead. In that time, sea levels were much lower, causing more land to be exposed. It's likely that it was possible to get all the way to southern Indonesia by land. From there, early people probably used boats fashioned from tree trunks to cross the 100 or so km to get to Australia. Australia was settled sometime around 50,000 years ago, but we don't have evidence of early boats until much later.
      (14 votes)
  • starky tree style avatar for user laith.maz
    At why is the sun red
    (3 votes)
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  • male robot donald style avatar for user Shreya Pentapalli
    not the audiojungle watermark-
    (6 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user History is fun
    : I think they moved to farming because it might be more dangerous for the hunter / gatherers since there are still animals that roam near them. So that might be why, but also it might be hard to find food but like I said there are probably a lot of plants and animals near. Also the reason I think farming is more popular is its easier than walking for days to find food and the farmers have houses instead of having to build a hut every time its night.
    (2 votes)
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  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Ghostacious
    Is it just me, or does the lady in the video looks like she has a mustache?
    (1 vote)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user Peter Patterson
    At , why can we conclude that foragers were healthier than farmers? The data might as well signify that healthier people are more likely to become foragers, and it also makes sense since requires of strength and stamina are higher in foraging.
    (1 vote)
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