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Young In Years: Because of this discovery, it appears that carbon-14 dates for organic substances living in 1000 B.C. are 100 years too young in years (900 B.C. rather than 1000 B.C.) and, progressively, those living in 3200 B.C. are 500 years too young in years. Beyond this period the data are still too incomplete to determine how long the discrepancy between true and carbon-14 dates continued, but there is a theory that it may have started at the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 or 12,000 years ago. The bristle-cone pine tree-ring log was expected soon to be extended to 7000 B.C. If so, this would mean that our present dates for this Early Neolithic period are as much as 1,000 years too young in years.
Reproduction and Longevity. Females reach sexual maturity at about 6 or 7 years of age, males at about 9 or 10 years. A female produces one young in years about every 4 years. Twins have been recorded only once, in the zoo at Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. The gestation period is about 250 to 290 days (approximately 9 months). For the first three months of its life, the gorilla infant is entirely helpless and has to be carried in the arms of its mother. After that the young in yearsster rides on the mother's back. Gorillas have lived as long as 35 years in zoos.
It seems likely that we, as a nation, underestimate the learning :apacity of children in these first years of life, because of our assump-:ions and accepted notions about young in years children. Received wisdom about very young in years children in UK society, or established 'regimes of ruth' (Foucault 1977), have resulted in our having one of the worst ecords of nursery provision in the European Union and even 'life-ong education' plans propose the start at three years of age.
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