Prehistoric demography
Encyclopedia
Prehistoric demography is the study of the demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...

 of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

 and hominid populations from the origin of hominids about 6,000,000 years ago through the origin of modern humans about 200,000 years ago, to the beginning of the agricultural revolution
Agricultural revolution
Agricultural Revolution or Agrarian Revolution may refer to:*The Neolithic Revolution , the initial transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture in prehistory...

 about 10,000 years ago.

Hominid population estimates

It is estimated that the average life span of hominids on the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n savannah
Savannah
Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...

 between 4,000,000 and 200.000 years ago was 20 years. This means that there would have been five generations per century. It is further estimated that the population of hominids in Africa fluctuated between 10,000 and 100,000 individuals, thus averaging about 50,000 individuals. Roughly multiplying 40,000 centuries by 50,000 to 500,000 individuals per century, yields a total of 2,000,000,000 to 20,000,000,000 hominids, or an average estimate of about 10,000,000,000 (ten billion) hominids that lived during that approximately 4,000,000 year time span. Other estimates have ranged from 45 to 110 billion.

70,000 years ago, the population was about 1 million people.

See also

  • Genetic history
  • Early human migrations
    Early human migrations
    Early human migrations began when Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa over the Levantine corridor and Horn of Africa to Eurasia about 1.8 million years ago, a migration probably sparked by the development of language Early human migrations began when Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa...

  • Historical demography
    Historical demography
    Historical demography is the quantitative study of human population in the past. It is concerned both with the three basic components of population change--fertility, mortality, and migration--and with population characteristics related to those components, such as marriage, socioeconomic status,...

  • Paleodemography
    Paleodemography
    Paleodemography is the study of ancient human mortality, fertility, and migration.More specifically, paleodemography looks at the changes in pre-modern populations in order to determine something about the influences on the lifespan and health of earlier peoples.Because case studies that are common...

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