How old is the earth?

Question

When did mankind first appear?
What's the oldest writing? What does it say?
Where did all the big things go?
Could there be large sea creatures still undiscovered in the oceans?
How come no one ever answers all the questions?

Answer 1

1. The earth is at least 4 billion years old, with fossils from the Burgess Shale dating to around 350 million years ago.

2. Australopithecus is dated to around 3.5 million years ago. Cro-magnon man, (modern humans) appeared 20-30 thousand years ago.

3. I believe the oldest writing is Cuneiform, and was used by the Sumerians at least 3500 years ago, and possibly 5000 years ago. I don't know what it said. Cave drawings date back 20 thousand years.

4. Animals grew to enormous sizes because there was more oxygen in the atmosphere. Less oxygen=smaller animals.

5. Of course there could be large sea creatures. The oceans are enormous, with the highest mountains on earth actually being under water. Some ocean depths go beyond 30,000 feet. Giant squids aren't seen alive, yet we know they reach monstrous proportions.

6. Because no one has all these answers. I have merely made an attempt.

Answer 2

The Earth is about 5 or 6 billion years old.

Human beings of the modern type appeared about 30,000 years ago but there were recognizably human creatures nearly 100,000 years ago.

The oldest writing is from the Harappan civilization. Unfortunately they were wiped out by illiterate invaders, so there are no hints as to what their writings say.

Some of the big things are still around -- blue whales, for instance, are the largest creatures which ever existed, as far as anybody knows.

Sure, there could be undiscovered large creatsures in the oceans. The study called "cryptozoology" suggests that there are a dozen or more which have been recorded in sea stories but never observed "officially".

Nobody ever answers all the questions because nobody (well, except maybe me and you) is omniscient.

Answer 3

How old is the earth? Millions of years old

When did mankind first appear? Millions of years ago, first there was Adam and Eve in the Garden, then as time went on, people evolved.

What's the oldest writing? What does it say? I think it was pictures in a cave somewhere

Where did all the big things go? To the trashcan, if the person was tidy.

Could there be large sea creatures still undiscovered in the oceans? Sure.

How come no one ever answers all the questions? Oh dear, I've proven you wrong, I answered all your questions and you said no one EVER answers all the questions. tsk tsk! lol

Answer 4

How old is the earth? --Several billion years old. The Bible does not say how old it is. It just says "in the beginning," which took place prior to the first day.

When did mankind first appear?--Approximately 6,031 years ago.

What's the oldest writing? --Summerian I think.

What does it say?-- I do not know.

Where did all the big things go?Elephants live in Africa, India, etc. Whales live in the ocean. I don't know where dinosuars and so forth went; I would guess that they mostly died off.

Could there be large sea creatures still undiscovered in the oceans?--I do not see why not.

How come no one ever answers all the questions? --They do not have all the answers, and neither do I, but I tried.

Answer 5

Earth is around 3 or 4 billion years old.
Modern archeology will tell you that modern man has only walked the earth for around 500,000 years, but there is evidence that modern man lived as far back as 10 million years ago. There have been screws and other worked metal 'modern' things found inside of ancient rocks and pieces of coal. There are anatomically modern human footprints found in volcanic material from Texas that is 7 million years old. In many ways, modern archeology has a dogma that it defends. When astronomers find something that cannot explain, they work on it and get back to it later. When archeologists find something totally beyond there expectations, they hide, ridicule, and bury it. They are kinda like a Church.
There is a loose system of proto writing found in caves in Europe. These are dated to something like 10,000 years ago, I'm not entirely sure. It is generally accepted that the first coherent system of writing was originated in the ancient civilization that sprang up in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq. I think they were called the Mesopotamians. Those writing are basically accounts of goods and services owed as pertaining to trade. The 'proto-writing' on the caves are a complete mystery. They may have only been used as mystical symbols with no other utility.
Big 'things', like giant animals, also known as mega-fauna, all went extinct shortly after mankind moved into those 'neighborhoods'. These extinctions were preceded by massive forest fires and there is speculation about whether man set these fires and whether, if he did, he did it accidentally or on purpose. It's much creepier to explore a strange forest. You could burn it, come back later, and be at less risk of, say, stealthy jungle cats carrying you off.
There could still be large sea creatures undiscovered by man. Recent geological readings on the Earth's crust have also suggested that there may even be bodies of water underneath our surface oceans. There are probably heat vents down there too and the foundations of an Eco-system.
No one ever answers all the questions because they are too busy.

Answer 6

About 6-7000 years old.
Adam was created on the 6th day of Creation.
Don't know about the oldest writing.
The dinosaurs were killed off in the flood.
There could definately be large sea creatures undiscovered by man.
I answered your questions as good as possible.

Answer 7

1. About 6,000 years
2. On the 6th day of creation
3. Probably a cave painting, but don't know for sure
4. Mostly killed by hunters (people), some may still exist in the most remote parts of the world.
5. Possibly, but there's no conclusive evidence.
6. Because there's too many and it takes too much time. Next time, try breaking them up into multiple postings.

Answer 8

I would say earth is 3-4 billion years old and the first homonids appeared around a million years ago.

Answer 9

The earth was formed in the year 1989 by the Yahoo computer ruling the world. This is all a dream. Now, forget.....forget.....

Answer 10

Because unfortunately, nobody has all the answers to all of those.

Although I did find this interesting bit about oldest writings: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/334517.stm