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    Drawing A Line In The Mud: Scientists Debate When 'Age Of Humans' Began

    Scientists on five continents are hunting for geological evidence to pinpoint exactly when humans became a major force shaping life on Earth. But settling on the date could unleash a larger debate.
    by Rebecca Hersher Mar 17, 2021 5 minutes
    A portion of Australia's Great Barrier Reef photographed from the International Space Station. The Flinders Reef area of the Great Barrier Reef is one of 11 sites around the world where scientists are looking for decisive geological evidence of a new epoch called the anthropocene.

    Humans have changed the Earth in such profound ways that scientists say we have entered a new geological period: the Anthropocene Epoch.

    But when did the new epoch officially begin? And how, exactly, should it be defined?

    Those are the questions that geologists are pursuing with increasing urgency at sites around the world. Teams are studying 11 locations on five continents, looking for a place where rock, mud or ice perfectly capture the global impact of humans.

    As is often the case in science, the teams are both collaborating and competing. They share information, but ultimately only one site will be crowned the "golden spike" location for the Anthropocene: the place on Earth where a line in the rock, mud or ice exemplifies the unique markers of the age of humans.

    Every geological period has a golden spike location that allows scientists to pinpoint when

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