The Oman-based data artist Marcelo Duhalde has taken information from the CIA’s World Factbook and the Encyclopedia Britannica and used it to chart human life expectancy at birth.

Take a look at the bottom-right part of this chart for “life expectancy along history.”  For the reference (from Wikipedia):  “The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 10,200 BC, … and ending between 4,500 and 2,000 BC.”

Therefore, in less than 10,000 – 8,000 years, human lifespan increased from 20 years to 71.  Not too bad.  But we should do better!