TIMELINE OF HUMANITY

DATE EVENT
13.8 ba universe born
4.54 ba earth is formed
4.53 ba moon orbits earth
3.6 ba life emerges
3.5 ba multicellular life emerges (cyanobacteria-like organisms)
1.5 ba fungus evolved
850 ma plant ancestors (multicellular photosynthesizing organisms) evolved on land
542 ma beginning of current ice age
535 ma vertebrates evolved
470 ma first terrestrial plants evolved
440 ma Ordovician-Silurian extinction event (85% of species lost)
385 ma Trees evolved
360 ma Late Devonian extinction event (70% of species lost)
animals begin to move onto land from oceans for first time
252 ma Permian-Triassic extinction event (90-96% of species lost)
201.3 ma Triassic-Jurassic extinction event (70-75% of species lost)
200 ma mammals evolved
66 ma Cretaceous-Paleogene extinct event (75% of species lost, dinosaur extinction)
40 ma grass evolved
20 ma apes
4 ma australopithecus emerges
3.4 ma toolmaking
2.5 ma homo genus emerges
stone toolmaking
2 ma homo erectus
homo genus migrates out of Africa
600,000 ya moravia first settled by homo species (current day czech republic)
500,000 ya stone-tip spear developed in Africa (NOTE: spearmaking has been observed in primates and may predate human evolution)
400,000 ya fire tamed
350,000-500,000 ya h sapien
300,000-400,000 ya shell art
200,000 ya Homo sapien migration out of Africa
Earliest evidence of Neanderthal seafaring
Evidence of medicinal herb usage by Neanderthals
135,000 BCE African mega droughts drive humans toward coastlines
115,000 BCE Earliest jewelry and self-ornamentation - Neanderthals (shell beads, corvid feathers)
113,000 BCE beginning of last glacial period
74,000 BCE lake toba supereruption - possible 'bottlenecking' of human population to >10,000 individuals
63,000 BCE first humans in australia
50,000 BCE modern human "behavior" emerges (abstract thinking, planning depth, emergence of art and culture, hunting large game)
40,000-70,000 BCE clothing invented
38,000 BCE cave paintings (oldest)
neanderthal extinction
earliest music instruments - bone flutes; swabian alps
30,000 BCE oldest cave-art depiction of humans being harmed by man-made weapon
29,000 BCE earliest clay figuine - czech republic
26,000 BCE first evidence of string and rope making
21,000 BCE theopetra cave wall - oldest known human-made structure; greece
20,000 BCE earliest pottery - china
bering strait land bridge (presumed not hospitable for human migration til ~11,500 BCE)
last glacial maximum period - lowest sea levels
13,000 BCE Natufian culture - early sedentary people, preagriculture
Oldest massacre (comitted by Natufians against Qadan culture)
first evidence of humans in north america; florida
12,700 BCE Bølling-Allerød interstadial - an abrupt warm period near end of last glacial period with massive deluges and sudden sea level rises in areas by 100+m
12,500 BCE first evidence of humans using tools in north america - florida
12,000 BCE canine domestication
jomon culture - sedentary japanese settlements
10,700 BCE wheel invented
10,000 BCE first agriculture - levant
tell qaramel - oldest known tower structure; syria
9,700 BCE cessation of last glaciation period
9,000 BCE gobekli tepei
indus valley agriculture
animal husbandry
7,500 BCE cat domestication
pengtoushan culture - sedentary culture in china, rice farmers, pottery-making
7000 BCE possible construction of Yonaguni Monument
first protowriting found in china, serbia
6500 bc final submergence of doggerland (land bridge between britain and europe)
6000 BCE agriculture and animal husbandry in africa
5500 BCE first metalworking - copper
scandinavian cultural senditism
Tolheim Death pit (oldest mass grave in Europe)
5000 BCE mesoamerican agriculture
earliest sailing ships
4900 BCE Goseck Circle
4000 BCE civilization born: uruk - first city to house 10,000+ (modern day iraq)
3600 BCE minoan civilization
bronze age in europe (yamna culture)
3500 BCE norte chico civilization - first in south america
minoan civilization
3300 BCE indus valley civilization begins
cuneiform - first written language; sumeria
3000 BCE jain religion
scientific method first developed
egyption civilization
ethiopian civilization
stonehenge begun
2400 BCE Enheduanna - first author or poet recorded by history; sumerian. works comprise some of first known literature
abacus invented (babylon)
2000 BCE mayan civilization
1900 BCE chinese civilization
1800 BCE epic of gilgamesh - considered first great epic/story
1750 BCE hindu religion
1500 BCE sanskrit developed in india
1300 BCE mesoamerican civilization
chinese written language
nan madol - micronesian megalithic city
800 BCE derinkuyu underground city (turkey)
viking age
700 BCE vimana (flying buildings and vessels) described in texts in india
atoms as concept first developed; india
500 BCE baghdad battery
magnets discovered
460 BCE hippocrates lays foundation for modern medicine
100 BCE - 0 AD steam engine concept (hero of alexandria; greece)
teotihuacan - largest city in precolumbia americas
antikythera mechanism
nan modol civilization - megalithic, current day micronesia
christian religion
antibiotic folk medicine first described
mt. vesuvius erupts
400 AD nazca lines
536 AD pumapunku - megalithic site with very percisely cut stones; bolivia
siddharta lives; start of buddhism
700 AD iron age
islamic religion founded
800 AD gunpowder invented
1000 AD firearms invented; china
1100 AD magnetic compass invented
1200 AD incan empire
metal firearms invented
baghdad sacked by mongolian army
1400 AD voynich manuscript
1550 AD steam engine developed (turkey)
microscope invented
1600 AD planetary Movements predicted by Kepler
telescope invented
electricity discovered
early calculator invented (nopier's bores)
slide rule invented
1700 AD gravity discovered (newton's laws)
modern battery invented
1800 AD first scifi book written (mary shelley's frankenstein)
first general purpose computer invented
theory of evolution developed by charles darwin
vaccines invented
1900 AD modern antibiotics
theory of relativity
atomic energy


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