Timeline of World History

origins of the universe

formation of the solar system and the earth

origins of life, single cell organisms

bacteria, algae

PROTEROZOIC EON (2.5 BYA - 541 MYA)

multicellular life: development ongoing from the late Archaean into the early Proterozoic but accelerated after the mass extinctions and glaciations of the Huronian and Cryogenian periods

oxygenation of the atmosphere

HURONIAN ICE AGE (2.4 - 2.1 BYA)

Huronian mass extinctions

CRYOGENIAN GLACIATIONS (720 -635 MYA): SNOWBALL EARTH

coral, worms, jellyfish

proliferation and diversification of animal and plant life forms

trilobites

ORDOVICIAN PERIOD (505-438 MYA)

mass extinctions (Cambrian-Ordovician extinctions)

oldest fish fossils, land plant spores

early land animals, fish with jaws, land plants

insects, amphibians, forests, fish with fins

swamps, forests and other plant remains from this period eventually became coal deposits

PANGAEA (335-175 MYA), supercontinent surrounded by superocean, PANTHALASSA

Sauropsids: ancestors of reptiles, dinosaurs

Synapsids: ancestors of mammals

Archosaurs: ancestors of dinosaurs
Therapsids: ancestors of mammals, e.g. Cynodonts

PERMIAN-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION (largest known extinction event, affecting most species in both land and water)

early dinosaurs

earliest mammals

separation of Pangaea into Laurasia and Gondwana

dinosaurs like Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Archaeopterix, Allosaurus

earliest mammal ancestral to placental mammals, including humans: Juramaia sinensis

placental mammals, ancestral to humans: Durlstodon ensomi, Durlstotherium newmani

dinosaurs like Argentinosaurus (95 MYA, over 100 ft long and 100 tons in weight), Triceratops (68 MYA, 30 ft, 13 tons), Tyrannosaurus rex (68 MYA, 40 ft long, 9 tons), Velociraptor (7 ft, 30 pounds)

EXTINCTION OF DINOSAURS (and other land mammals larger than 25 kg/55 pounds)--believed to have been caused by impact of an asteroid (6-10 miles in diameter)

CENOZOIC ERA (66 million years ago to the present -- includes Tertiary and Quaternary Periods)

origins of lemurs and other primates

Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (56 - 49 MYA, no ice on earth, warm, humid climate, crocodiles could live in areas as far north as Greenland)

Labidolemur kayi (55 MYA), in North America, shared features with primates and rodents

separation of Antarctica from South America and beginning of ice formation in Antarctica and trend toward colder, dryer climate

continuation of colder climate trends

colder, dryer climate associated with deforestation and growth of savanna environments mixing woods and grasslands

Gigantopithecus (10-foot tall, 1200-pound ape) in southeast Asia (India, China), extinct by 100,000 years ago

Sahelanthropus tschadensis ("Toumaï" fossils from Chad), hominid still not clearly differentiated from chimpanzees

CHLCA (Chimpanzee-Human Last Common Ancestor --estimated to around 7 - 5 MYA)

Hominid ancestors of humans begin to diverge from chimpanzees and bonobos -- transition from arboreal existence to life on the ground

Separation of Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea by dropping sea levels (due to colder climate, ice formation) and rise in the sea floor caused by movement of continental plates

Messinian Salinity Crisis: evaporation of Mediterranean Sea -- intensification of deforestation and drought conditions in Africa with implications of loss of habitat for primates

Ardipithecus kadabba (5.6 MYA), hominid fossils from the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia

oldest mammoth fossils

Ardipithecus ramidus (4.5 MYA), hominid from the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia

bipedal hominids, genus Australopithecus -- initially a fruit-eating animal, gradually diversifying its diet to include vegetables and eventually meat, capable of life on the ground and on trees

Australopithecus anamensis, (4 - 4.5 MYA) fossils from Lake Turkana, Kenya

Footprints of Australopithecus afarensis on volcanic ash in Laetoli, Tanzania -- evidence of bipedalism

rise of Isthmus of Panama: Pacific and Atlantic Oceans separated, lower temperatures and greater salinity increases in Atlantic waters with implications of cooler and drier climate in Africa, as well as further loss of primate habitat

meat consumption by Australopithecines beginning around 3.5 - 2.5 MYA, possible use of tools in butchering animals

"Lucy" fossil remains in Ethiopia, Australopithecus afarensis

formation of Arctic polar ice cap

Australopithecus africanus, larger brains, meat consumption

QUATERNARY PERIOD (2.6 MYA to the present -- includes the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs)

PLEISTOCENE EPOCH (2.6 MYA - 12 KYA [12,000 years ago, or 10,000 BC/BCE]) also known as PALEOLITHIC PERIOD ( "old stone age")

PLEISTOCENE ICE AGE: lasted till the end of the Pleistocene Epoch

stone tools, fossils from Gona, Ethiopia

emergence of genus HOMO, e.g. Homo habilis, a tool maker, still sharing characteristics with Australopithecines

Saber-toothed tigers (Smilodon californicus) in America, 4-5 feet long, 450 pounds, 7 inch fangs, extinct by 10,000 years ago, remains in La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles

earliest use of fire, cooked food (1.9 MYA)

Homo erectus ("upright human") (1.8 MYA), in Africa as "Homo ergaster" (1.9 MYA) -- migrated into Asia, e.g. "Java man" (1.5 MYA), "Peking man" (0.8 MYA)

Homo antecessor in western Europe (1.2 MYA-800 KYA), males were about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, practiced cannibalism, fossil evidence from caves at Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain

Homo heidelbergensis (600,000 years ago) in Europe, very tall (as much as 7 feet), also a cannibal, used spears in hunting

Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthal) in Europe and Asia, extinct by 40 - 28 KYA

Homo sapiens develops in Africa

evidence of Neanderthal cannibalism, Moula Guercy, France

Homo sapiens develops language, evidence (perforated shell jewelry, tools for mixing ochre pigments) from Blombos cave, South Africa

Homo sapiens migrates out of Africa into Europe and Asia, following large game

Homo sapiens in Europe (Cro-Magnon culture), encounter with Neanderthals resulted in interbreeding and extinction of Neanderthals by around 40-28KYA

gradual extinction of megafauna caused by human hunting, many large animals (e.g. mammoth) extinct or virtually extinct by 10 KYA

oldest cave paintings: El Castillo, Spain (40.8 KYA), Chauvet Pont-d'Arc cave, France (35 KYA); Sulawesi, Indonesia (40 - 35 KYA); Altamira, Spain (36 - 14 KYA); Australian aborigine rock art (30 KYA); Lascaux, France (17 KYA)

oldest sculpture: Venus of Hohle Fels, female figure carved in mammoth ivory (40 - 35 KYA)

Venus of Willendorf sculpture (30 - 20 KYA)

oldest petroglyphs in America (15 - 10 KYA), near Reno, Nevada

Younger Dryas ("Big Freeze") -- glaciation in Northern Hemisphere, ending about 11,500 years ago ("end" of the Ice Age)

NEOLITHIC PERIOD ("New Stone Age") (from the end of the Ice Age to the use of metals around 7 KYA/5000 BC/BCE)

development of agriculture and animal domestication, pottery, sedentary life in villages

oldest Neolithic settlements: Tell Qaramel in Syria (10,000 BC); Göbekli Tepe in Turkey (10,000 BC); Jericho in Palestine (9000 BC)

evidence of religious practices, fertility cults, goddess figures at Çatalhöyük in Turkey (7000 BC)

CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD (Copper Age) (7 KYA - 5 KYA)

Great Flood, formation of the Black Sea

Sumerians (5,000-2,000 BC) in Mesopotamia

Indo-Europeans (Kurgan people) (5,000 BC - 3,000 BC) north of the Black Sea

Sumerian city of Eridu

invention of writing by Sumerians in Mesopotamia, wheel, plows, bronze

END OF PREHISTORIC PERIOD