Group Meeting #2

On wensday 1st of october we had our 2nd group meeting. After focusing our last meeting on the written part and the powerpoint presentation, we dedicated this one to our 3D model. When planning out the model, we all saw that a good idea would be to show the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. On the pleistocene side, we created a glacier-like surface with clay and a mountain and a river out of blue clay. We placed around the "glacier" animals that lived in this enviroment at the time and some that still do.  On the holocene side, we created the ground eith brown clay and modeled a small hill out of green clay with a tree. We also placed animals that lived during this Epoch.  Since humans started to develop civilization at the beginning of the epoch, we placed a person dressed in thick clothing to protect himself from the cold. Research has told us that eventhough the ice melted entering the holocene epoch, the tempereatures were still too low so that the people living during it can stop using their protective coats. 

We also want to explain that humans were already fully developed to today's species of  homo sapiens sapiens around the end of the pleistocene. What stood out during the holocene epoch was the beginning of civilizations with language, writing, tools, etc. 

Group Meeting #1

Yesterday, September 29, 2008, was our 1st group meeting. That day, we focused more on the PowerPoint presentation. We divided it into 3 parts. Luciano looked up the information about the Holocene Epoch, Francisco looked up the Pleistocene and I, Clyde, looked up the fotos, organized and prepared the PowerPoint presentation and kept this blog updated. We made sure the work was evenly distributed and everyone had a say on anything we did. Here you can see Lucciano's and Francisco's work. 

The Holocene Epoch

 

  

To start this presentation off, we must point out that the epoch’s name “Holocene” means “completely recent”. This means that our current geological appearance is the same as it was 10,000 years ago, when the epoch began. Before this epoch, the planet was frozen. Afterwards, however, came a series of global warming phases which ended the Ice Ages

            As mentioned earlier, the Holocene epoch melts away the Earth’s frozen surface. There were, of course, colder periods. It was warm for about 5,000 years but then it descended into the Neoglacial, where there were cold temperatures. Followed by this phase, came the Medieval Warm Period and after that came Little Ice Age, which isn’t that significant, because it didn’t freeze the planet at all. The Neoglacial Age was obviously more significant than the Little Ice Age.

            The Holocene Epoch dates from 10,000 years ago to today. This means that our map today is more or less the same as it was 10,000 years ago.

            The Holocene Epoch is characterized by its human presence. The first civilizations emerge from this time period, and its activities start affecting climate (global warming). This caused the extinction of prehistoric life forms, as well as the emergence of others. For the first time, Homo Sapien Sapien affects geology and leaves great amounts of traces of existence.

The Pleistocene Epoch

The Pleistocene is the epoch between 1.8million years and 10,000 years ago. The Pleistocene is divided into the Early, Middle and Late Pleistocene. This epoch is largely described as the glaciations epoch, which means the start of glacier growth and establishment. These glaciers came to occupy 30% of the world’s territory, which means, that it was formed from the center of the earth up to northern United States and China, also all of Spain. 

There were mayor events in this epoch, all regarding to the glaciers. These events are divided by intervening events. The mayor events are general glacial excursion, or glacial. This four mayor events took place in the Alps, North Europe, British Islands and Midwest of United States. 

Scientific evidence shows that humans were present and evolving during this time. The Paranthropus were still present when our ancient ancestors came, but during the lower Paleolithic age, they disappeared. During the most of the Pleistocene the only fossil records of hominid species is the Homo erectus. This hominid species were said to migrate from Africa and start to make more elaborate tools than those of the previous eras. 

The Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs

Clyde Fasick, Francisco Baralt, Lucciano Diaz

Clase 2010 Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola

Biologia-Prof. Wilma Giol

Hello!

We are students from the Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola in Puerto Rico. We have created this blog to talk about our biology class proyect on the Geological Timeline. We were assigned the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs. Through this blog you will be able to read about when, how, and what are proyect is about.

Are proyect consists of 4 parts. 1st, we are to write a paper on our subject, the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs. Then we are to create a PowerPoint presentation and 3D model to support an oral presentation we are to give the class. Last we were told to create a blog to chronical the steps we took to create this proyect. We will mention our meetings, what we did in each of the meetings and put updates of our proyect. 

Enjoy!