claim: Through decades of research, it has become clear that human civilization, roughly 6,000 years old, developed during an unusually stable period for global sea levels.
evidence: [ citation needed ] By the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period ( 50,000 BP ), and likely significantly earlier by 100-70,000 years ago or possibly by about 300,000 years ago behavioral modernity, including language, music and other cultural universals had developed.