photo by Lincoln Capricone 

The living earth is a very old place, estimated to be over 4.3 billion years. In this time it has evolved from a combination of gases to a complex system to support what we presently know as life (see bighistoryproject.com). Humans have evolved in a relatively short period of this time frame. And yet, we should not underestimate the expanse of 200,000 years of human evolution. The process of reconstructing the past through geology, paleontology, anthropology or history, is to recover events in time that may be gone forever, yet have something to inform us about our unique place on the planet. The stories in this section will frame the living earth in the context of time and expand our awareness of the near and distant past.