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This is a selection
of basic reading available on the internet, which extends a background
to our family genealogies: where did our ancestors come from, why are we
here in this place, what influenced our ever-changing culture. What caused
our antecedents to migrate, from the evolution of Modern Man in These are works on
specialist subjects and require dictionary explanations of words not in
everyday use by the layman. It is highly recommended that readers down-load
the free program GURUNET
as an on-line reference which is quick and easy to use: hold the ALT key
down while you click on a word for the desired meaning. These web pages are
typical of a great amount available; there is a wide variety to be found
by Googling.
ENGLISH
FARMING, PAST AND PRESENT
Scroll down to the
contents section and browse through the subjects of each chapter for material
of interest. Chapters 14, 15 and 16 contain much to explain the problems
of rural living in 500
Years of Poor Laws, 1349-1834
A
Dissertation on the Poor Laws
http://www.ecn.bris.ac.uk/het/hale/poor Life
in Rural Wiltshire 18th & 19th Century
The history of groups
of people from which our families arose has a bearing on our culture. By
present day standards our ancestors endured much hardship and brutality
in their survival. Where there was conflict there were atrocities, where
men were murdered and women were raped; so was the human heritage perpetuated,
and we discover now our ancient roots in our genes.
Genghis
Khan The genetic heritage
left by the brutal hordes of Mongols across The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Romans were a literate
people and left much detail of their activities and time in
Aspects
of life and events in the Roman army, much of which are in the
words, translated, of Roman writers of the time. How Ancient Humans
Spread Across the Earth
Evolution gradually
brought a development of the potential of the brain. Language and communication,
logic and reasoning, imagination and invention, foresight and planning,
control of the emotions and a thousand other things which civilised the
instincts of survival. Perhaps the most important
contributor to Intelligence Brief summary of the
world climate over the last 100,000 years
VOLCANOES Very big volcanic eruptions
have been seen in the past to affect the climate of the world. Mt Tambora
in Sumbawa,
Toba
Volcano, About 70,000 years
ago this volcano erupted, throwing 2,800 cubic kilometres of rock and ash
to tremendous heights and forming a dense dust veil around the earth. The
resulting effect on the climate was devastating to all forms of life for
many years after. According to Rampino's
research, Toba blasted a crater 100 kms
long, sending 3 billion tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere and
a dense cloud of volcanic dust around the globe. He also suspects that Toba's
super-eruption was responsible for the population crash of 70,000 years
ago, when the number of people fell to no more than 10,000. Michael Rampino
warned that this kind of super- eruption occurs every 50,000 years.Other
research indicates that as the cooling of the earth had already commenced, Toba
then was the indicating point for the commencement of the ice-age. Homo
Sapiens Sapiens Events
Evolution
of the Earth and life A timeline for the
Earth.
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