# I say humans first appeared in the year 28028 (BC). My friend says it was 237629 (BC). Who's right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171 "2014-05-24T09:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoned\_stoner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stoned\_stoner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoned_stoner)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/1 "2014-05-24T09:32:17Z")
My friend and I are arguing over the year humans first appeared. I say humans first appeared in the year 28028 (BC). My friend says it was 237629 (BC). Who’s right? I don’t mean to be selfish, but I just feel pretty sure that I’m the one who’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/2 "2014-05-24T10:12:59Z")
Neither of you. 😛 Your numbers are both way too precise. Might as well include the precise date and time…it wouldn’t reduce your chances of being correct within the precision you’ve defined all that much. Your friend is closer - the first anatomically modern humans appeared about 200k years before the present. Your number is closer to when our species found their way to East Asia and the Americas, which, any way you slice it, is not a reasonable way to define ‘the first human’. If we define ‘human’ as the genus homo, even your friend is way off (still closer, though, obviously). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/3 "2014-05-24T10:16:36Z")
You’re serious, right? You and your friend are both wrong. The earliest species of human, _Homo habilis_, first appeared around 2.3 million years ago, about nine times earlier than your friend says. Even modern man, or _Homo sapiens sapiens_, first appeared around 200,000 years ago, which fits in more closely with your friend’s guess. Ninja’d by **Kamino Neko**. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/4 "2014-05-24T11:07:11Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Neither of you. 😛 Your numbers are both way too precise. Might as well include the precise date and time… Reminds me of a joke about a tour guide at a natural history museum. He pointed to some dinosaur bones and said, “These bones are 140 million and four and a half years old.” When asked how he could be so precise, he responded, “Well, I started my job as a guide here four and a half years ago, and they told me the bones were 140 million years old. So now their age must be 140 million and four and a half years.” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/5 "2014-05-24T13:03:20Z")
[The first human appeared at 9 a.m. on Friday, September 17, 3928 B.C.](http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/ussher/lightfoot.html) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/6 "2014-05-24T21:18:25Z")
Did you get those exact-looking numbers by converting from metric? Like those news reports that say the epicenter of the earthquake was “620 miles” north of BFE, having converted from somebody on the ground who said “about 1,000 kilometers”. There’s a term for that, I think it is “spurious exactitude”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/7 "2014-05-24T21:47:23Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Did you get those exact-looking numbers by converting from metric? Like those news reports that say the epicenter of the earthquake was “620 miles” north of BFE, having converted from somebody on the ground who said “about 1,000 kilometers”. There’s a term for that, I think it is “spurious exactitude”. Well, let’s work it out and see. What are the conversion factors between metric years and English years? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/8 "2014-05-24T22:02:58Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Well, let’s work it out and see. What are the conversion factors between metric years and English years? Well a metric year is 10 metric months of 10 metric days which are 10 metric hours long (100 metric minutes) long… carry the 1… subtract 1 for each leap year… I come up with 1 metric year equals a little less time than it takes to wear out a cheap pair of sneakers; in English years, about 8 months 4 days 9 hours 37 minutes and 12 seconds (approx.). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/9 "2014-05-24T22:27:41Z")
It changed when Urglot Bearkiller’s son Jonathan changed his name… ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/10 "2014-05-24T23:25:11Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Reminds me of a joke about a tour guide at a natural history museum. He pointed to some dinosaur bones and said, “These bones are 140 million and four and a half years old.” > > When asked how he could be so precise, he responded, “Well, I started my job as a guide here four and a half years ago, and they told me the bones were 140 million years old. So now their age must be 140 million and four and a half years.” Wow! I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/11 "2014-05-24T23:35:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Did you get those exact-looking numbers by converting from metric? Like those news reports that say the epicenter of the earthquake was “620 miles” north of BFE, having converted from somebody on the ground who said “about 1,000 kilometers”. There’s a term for that, I think it is “spurious exactitude”. That does happen (maybe not for years, but some units). I always wondered by normal human body temperature was given to be 98.6 degrees F. It seemed mighty precise for something that varies from time to time and person to person. Until I realized one day that 98.6 F was equal to 37 C. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/12 "2014-05-25T04:26:39Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > That does happen (maybe not for years, but some units). I always wondered by normal human body temperature was given to be 98.6 degrees F. It seemed mighty precise for something that varies from time to time and person to person. Until I realized one day that 98.6 F was equal to 37 C. I thought the normal human body temperature was supposed to be 100 degree, but Fahrenheit fudged the math. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/13 "2014-05-25T06:03:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I thought the normal human body temperature was supposed to be 100 degree, but Fahrenheit fudged the math. I just figured he had a slight fever when he took his own temperature. ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/14 "2014-05-25T10:51:45Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Well a metric year is 10 metric months of 10 metric days which are 10 metric hours long (100 metric minutes) long… carry the 1… subtract 1 for each leap year… I come up with 1 metric year equals a little less time than it takes to wear out a cheap pair of sneakers; in English years, about 8 months 4 days 9 hours 37 minutes and 12 seconds (approx.). Then you double it and add 30. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/15 "2014-05-25T11:31:39Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Reminds me of a joke about a tour guide at a natural history museum. He pointed to some dinosaur bones and said, “These bones are 140 million and four and a half years old.” > > When asked how he could be so precise, he responded, “Well, I started my job as a guide here four and a half years ago, and they told me the bones were 140 million years old. So now their age must be 140 million and four and a half years.” When I was little I got a book on dinosaurs, which told me they died out 65m years ago. A year later, I was claiming they died out 65,000,001 years ago. Obviously, then I realized my mistake - I checked the publication date and realized it was more like 65,000,005 years. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/16 "2014-05-25T11:54:47Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There’s a term for that, I think it is “spurious exactitude”. I see that a lot for currency exchange rates in newspaper reports. Something worth “£15,000,000” is then listed as “AU$27,334,890.00” ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/17 "2014-05-25T14:40:06Z")
Is that like the coin dated 50 B. C.? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/18 "2014-05-25T15:08:26Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Reminds me of a joke about a tour guide at a natural history museum. He pointed to some dinosaur bones and said, “These bones are 140 million and four and a half years old.” > > When asked how he could be so precise, he responded, “Well, I started my job as a guide here four and a half years ago, and they told me the bones were 140 million years old. So now their age must be 140 million and four and a half years.” I actually came in to tell this joke! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/19 "2014-05-25T17:10:23Z")
“Spurious exactitude”. I’m going to have to remember that. ---
**Author:** ![MrSBaldrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@MrSBaldrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSBaldrick)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171/20 "2014-05-26T01:09:30Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > “Spurious exactitude”. I’m going to have to remember that. Seems like it would be a good band name! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-humans-first-appeared-in-the-year-28028-bc-my-friend-says-it-was-237629-bc-whos-right/689171.md?page=2)