TITLE:
The Homines Fossilization: Brief Review of Anthropocene
AUTHORS:
Christiano Magini
KEYWORDS:
Homines, Fossilization, Anthropocene
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.14 No.3,
March
13,
2024
ABSTRACT: This
article is an insight into our lifetime and the enduring capacity of the planet—especially regarding water and space, in face of the Homines population growth. This is and will be recorded in the geological time: once
preserved as human fossils, we will be part of a chapter in Earth’s history. A
brief taphonomic chronology is presented, from the emergence of humans to the
domination of the environment and supremacy over other species, and also a
concern on how much planet Earth can bear Homines neglects. The
objective of this review is to show that the strata that contain human fossils
change during the Anthropocene not only the human body but also its tools,
resulting from its development. Four stages were identified as taphonomic
phases: the first wave, when organic Homines fossils were
preserved only with materials in natura, including natural artefacts.
The second fossilization phase has occurred and still occurs with the urban
Homines, a product of the proliferation of cities, including
anthropogenic waste and diseases. The technology that we master today also
belongs to our taphonomy: hydrocarbons, metals, plastic, radioactive elements—all fossilize together with the industrial
Homines, representing the third fossilization phase, which is very
close to the fourth fossilization phase, where our enlightened intelligence
buries the technological Homines together with his world of
digital waste and new viruses. How will we fossilize the future? This question
makes us think about the behavior we assume today—who or what will go to the grave with us,
which geological/environmental response will stop superpopulation, which
extinction event will hold human proliferation? Which will be the mineral,
human and waste components of our subsequent strata? How much water and space
can we still use without causing a global environmental collapse?