Before revision: The early Anthropocene hypothesis (sometimes referred to as the early anthropogenic hypothesis or Ruddiman hypothesis ) is a stance concerning the beginning of the Anthropocene first proposed by William Ruddiman in URL It posits that the Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch coinciding with the most recent period in Earth's history when the activities of the human race first began to have a significant global impact on Earth's climate and ecosystems, did not begin during European colonization of the Americas, as numerous scholars posit, nor the eighteenth century with advent of coal-burning factories and power plants of the industrial era, as originally argued by Paul Crutzen (who popularized the word "Anthropocene" in 2000), nor in the 1950s as claimed by the Anthropocene Working Group (a geological research program working on the Anthropocene as a geological time unit), but dates back to 8,000 years ago, triggered by intense farming activities after agriculture became widespread.
After revision: The Early Anthropocene Hypothesis (sometimes referred to as 'Early Anthropogenic' or 'Ruddiman Hypothesis' ) is a stance concerning the beginning of the Anthropocene first proposed by William Ruddiman in URL It posits that the Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch coinciding with the most recent period in Earth's history when the activities of the human race first began to have a significant global impact on Earth's climate and ecosystems, did not begin during European colonization of the Americas, as numerous scholars posit, nor the eighteenth century with advent of coal-burning factories and power plants of the industrial era, as originally argued by Paul Crutzen (who popularized the word 'Anthropocene' in 2000), nor in the 1950s as claimed by the Anthropocene Working Group (a geological research program working on the Anthropocene as a geological time unit), but dates back to 8,000 years ago, triggered by intense farming activities after agriculture became widespread.