In 4 million years, human life has undergone several major periods of transition -- each marked by physical remnants of change -- and today's physical evidence suggests that humans may be entering a new epoch marked by a "single, global political entity," according to a prominent archaeologist who will speak on the University of Colorado campus Saturday.
Robert Kelly, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, will deliver the 16th annual Distinguished Archaeology Lecture at 7 p.m. in room 270 of the Hale Science Building, just southeast of the intersection of Broadway and University Avenue in 麻豆影院.
Parking is available on University Avenue or in the Euclid Avenue AutoPark east of the University Memorial Center at Broadway and Euclid. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the CU department of anthropology and the Archaeological Institute of America.
The most recent data suggest that a major transition in human life is happening now, that its magnitude may equal that of the "cultural explosion" of the Upper Paleolithic period 30,000 years ago, and that it involves a new form of human organization, Kelly said.
Archaeologists view history through material remains of human life, and these remnants indicate changes in the organization of human society, Kelly noted.
In the last 4 million years, human society has undergone at least three major changes, Kelly said. The first, the origin of technology, began about 2.6 million years ago with the advent of stone tools. The origins of culture appeared about 50,000 years ago, and the origins of agriculture appeared about 10,000 years ago, leading to various "state" forms of government, Kelly said.
At each transition, the material record of human history changed dramatically, Kelly noted.
"Applying that same archaeological standard to the time since 10,000 years ago, I see another major transition beginning about A.D. 1500," Kelly said, adding that others have identified the transitional period as one of "globalization."
Material evidence of this new epoch includes that from a rapidly increasing population. Trash is one human remnant, he noted, adding that the largest human-made structure in the world (by volume) is the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, New York.
Other material evidence of major human change includes the thousands of sunken ships on the ocean floor, which signal intercontinental trade. Also, people have left physical evidence of the occupation of, or visits to, habitats previously untouched by humans: Antarctica, the moon and Mars.
Population growth drives these changes, Kelly observed. It took 4 million years for human population to reach 1 billion, in the early 19th century. But it took only another 200 years for humans' ranks to grow to 6 billion. By the middle of this century, world population is expected to reach 9 billion.
The size of human empires has grown alongside human population, he said, adding: "Extending the discovered relationship into the future, we find that a single, global political entity is predicted to appear &hellip well, today."
While noting some evidence of such a global entity, Kelly acknowledged that as an archaeologist, "I am certainly not qualified to go much further and make any serious predictions."
Leaving the prognostication to political scientists, Kelly said: "My point is that archaeologists are in a unique position to understand such long-term trends in human society both because of our perspective and because we spend so much time trying to imagine what ancient societies were. It occurs to me that imagining what the past was like is practice for imagining what the future could be."
For more information on the event, e-mail douglas.bamforth@colorado.edu or visit .