Evolution & life: key events

The history of life on Earth: evolution, mass extinctions, fossils and the origin of humans.

Chronyas lists 619 events in this topic. These are among the most notable, grouped by era.

Archean

about 3.48 billion years agoEarly evidence of life: stromatolites

Proterozoic

about 1.65 billion years agoEarliest complex cells (eukaryotes)
about 1.05 billion years agoEarliest complex multicellular life
about 574 million years agoFirst large soft-bodied life (Ediacaran biota)
about 543 million years agoCambrian explosion
about 541 million years agoEnd-Ediacaran extinction

Paleozoic

about 521 million years agoFirst trilobites
about 518 million years agoFirst fish
about 485 million years agoCambrian–Ordovician extinction event
about 470 million years agoFirst land plants
about 444 million years agoOrdovician–Silurian extinction event
about 428 million years agoFirst animals on land
about 385 million years agoFirst forests
about 375 million years agoFish with limbs begin to walk: tetrapods evolve
about 372 million years agoLate Devonian extinction
about 365 million years agoFour-legged vertebrates reach land
about 312 million years agoFirst egg-laying land vertebrates
about 307 million years agoCarboniferous rainforest collapse

Mesozoic

about 252 million years agoPermian-Triassic mass extinction
about 233 million years agoEarliest known dinosaurs
about 225 million years agoThe first mammals appear
about 210 million years agoFirst flying reptiles (pterosaurs)
about 205 million years agoFirst mammals
about 201 million years agoTriassic-Jurassic mass extinction
about 150 million years agoArchaeopteryx, the earliest known bird, lives in Jurassic Bavaria
about 150 million years agoFirst birds
about 130 million years agoFlowering plants spread
about 93.9 million years agoCenomanian-Turonian boundary event
about 66 million years agoCretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction

Cenozoic

about 56 million years agoEarliest known primates
about 33.9 million years agoEocene–Oligocene extinction event
about 7 million years agoSahelanthropus, one of the earliest hominins
about 6 million years agoEarliest probable human ancestors
from about 3.3 million years ago to 15,000 years agoPaleolithic
from about 3.3 million years ago to 302,000 years agoLower Paleolithic
about 3.3 million years agoOldest known stone tools
about 2.8 million years agoEarliest fossils of the genus Homo
about 2.7 million years agoGreat American Interchange
about 2.6 million years agoOldowan
about 1.8 million years agoHomo erectus appears
from about 1.76 million years ago to 150,000 years agoAcheulean
about 790,000 years agoEarliest controlled use of fire
from about 602,000 years ago to 402,000 years agoAbbevillian
from about 315,000 years ago to 33,000 years agoMousterian
from about 302,000 years ago to 32,000 years agoMiddle Paleolithic

Human prehistory

about 300,000 years agoEarliest known Homo sapiens fossils
from about 50,000 years ago to 2nd millenniumPre-Columbian era
from about 50,000 years ago to 9,726 years agoUpper Paleolithic
from about 45,000 years ago to 16,500 years agoJapanese Paleolithic
from about 42,000 years ago to 5,126 years agoPrehistoric Egypt
about 41,000 years agoNeanderthals disappear from Europe
about 40,100 years agoNeanderthals die out
from about 40,000 years ago to 31,000 years agoAurignacian
from about 38,000 years ago to 33,000 years agoChâtelperronian
from about 35,000 years ago to 24,000 years agoGravettian
about 23,100 years agoPeople are already in North America
from about 22,000 years ago to 17,000 years agoSolutrean
about 20,000 years agoThe earliest known pottery is made in China
from about 17,000 years ago to 12,000 years agoMagdalenian
from about 16,000 years ago to 8th millennium BCEEpipaleolithic
about 15,100 years agoDogs are domesticated
from about 15,000 years ago to 1st millennium BCEJōmon period
from about 14,000 years ago to 9th millennium BCENatufian culture
from about 14,000 years ago to 8th millennium BCEAzilian
about 13,000 years agoThe megafauna of the Americas die out
about 12,000 years agoHolocene extinction
c. 9,750s BCEQuaternary extinction event
from c. 9,050s BCE to 8,850s BCEClovis culture
from 10th millennium BCE to 6th millennium BCEMesolithic
from 10th millennium BCE to 7th millennium BCEMaglemosian culture
76th century BCECats begin to live with farmers
from 75th century BCE to 60th century BCEKunda culture
from c. 5,600s BCE to 4,900s BCELinear Pottery culture
from 56th century BCE to 20th century BCESumer
from 55th century BCE to 27th century BCECucuteni–Trypillia culture
from 55th century BCE to 45th century BCEVinča culture
from 45th century BCE to 38th century BCEBadari culture
from c. 4,200s BCE to 2,800s BCEFunnelbeaker culture
from c. 4,000 BCE to 3,500 BCEAmratian culture
from c. 3,700 BCE to 3,000 BCEMaykop culture
from c. 3,700 BCE to 3,100 BCEBotai culture
from c. 3,650 BCE to 3,300 BCEGerzeh culture
from 36th century BCE to 18th century BCECaral–Supe civilization
from c. 3,500 BCE to 2,800 BCEBaden culture
from c. 3,500 BCE to 2,500 BCEAfanasevo culture
from c. 3,400 BCE to 2,000 BCEKura–Araxes culture
from c. 3,300 BCE to 600 BCEBronze Age
from c. 3,300 BCE to 2,600 BCEYamnaya culture

Ancient civilizations

from c. 3,200 BCE to 1,050 BCECycladic civilization
from c. 3,200 BCE to 3,060 BCENaqada III
from 31st century BCE to 20th century BCECorded Ware culture
c. 3,000s BCEThe Austronesian expansion begins from Taiwan
c. 3,000s BCEYamnaya herders spread across Europe and Asia
from c. 3,000 BCE to 1,800 BCEIndus Valley Civilization
from 30th century BCE to 18th century BCEMari
from c. 2,600s BCE to 2,200s BCEBell beaker culture
from c. 2,300s BCE to 1,550s BCEUnetice culture
from c. 2,300 BCE to 1,000 BCEAndronovo culture
from c. 2,200 BCE to 1,700 BCEBactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex
from 3rd millennium BCE to 2nd millenniumMaya civilization
21st century BCEThe last mammoths die out on Wrangel Island
from c. 2,000 BCE to 1,500 BCEErlitou culture
from c. 2,000 BCE to 1,500 BCEPhilippine Jade Artifacts
from c. 1,600s BCE to 1,300s BCETumulus culture
from c. 1,600 BCE to 400 BCENuragic civilization
from c. 1,600 BCE to 1,100 BCEMycenaean Greece
16th century BCEVedas
from 16th century BCE to 1st century BCENok culture
from c. 1,500 BCE to 500 BCELapita
from c. 1,500 BCE to 800 BCEKarasuk culture
c. 1,400 BCEOlmecas
from c. 1,300s BCE to 500s BCEChavín culture
from c. 1,300s BCE to 500s BCELusatian culture
from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
from c. 1,200 BCE to 450 BCEHallstatt culture
from c. 1,200 BCE to 800 BCEUrnfield culture
11th century BCEThe Bantu expansion begins
from c. 1,000 BCE to 1 CEDong Son culture
from c. 900 BCE to 200 BCEParacas culture
from c. 900 BCE to 720 BCEVillanovan culture
from 600 BCE to 1 BCEJastorf culture
from 500 BCE to 1500Dorset culture
from 5th century BCE to 13th centuryZapotec
from 500 BCE to 300 BCEPazyryk culture
from 450 BCE to 15 CELa Tène culture
from c. 100 CE to 700 CEMoche culture
from 1st century to 7th centuryNazca culture

Medieval world

from 600 CE to 900 CEWari
from 13 September 622 CE to 27 September 622 CEHijra
from 800 CE to 1600Mississippian culture
from 1000 to 1476Chachapoya culture
from 1100 to 1470Chimú culture
from 1197 to 1592Inca civilization
from 1200 to 1523Aztec
c. 1400sThe moa are hunted to extinction in New Zealand

Early modern world

Industrial era

1811Mary Anning finds the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton
1824William Buckland describes Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur to be named
from 25 May 1838 to 1 January 1839Cherokee removal
1842Richard Owen coins the word Dinosauria
3 June 1844The last great auks are killed
August 1856Discovery of Neanderthal 1
1861The first Archaeopteryx skeleton is found
12 August 1883The last quagga dies in Amsterdam
from 11 February 1896 to 20 February 1897Gojong's internal exile to the Russian legation
3 June 1901Discovery of Grimaldi Man
1905Henry Fairfield Osborn names Tyrannosaurus rex
3 August 1908Discovery of La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1
30 August 1909Charles Walcott discovers the Burgess Shale

Modern era

from 1914 to 1970Great Migration
1 September 1914Martha, the last passenger pigeon, dies
from 1917 to 1922White émigré
28 November 1924Discovery of Taung Child
from 1929 to 1932Dekulakization
2 December 1929A skull of Peking Man is found at Zhoukoudian
1933Discovery of Harbin cranium
1933Discovery of Steinheim skull
7 October 1935Discovery of Loschbour man
7 September 1936The last thylacine dies in captivity
from 18 May 1944 to 20 May 1944Deportation of the Crimean Tatars

Contemporary world

February 1947Discovery of Tepexpan man
18 April 1947Discovery of Mrs. Ples
from 1948 to 1970Jewish exodus from the Muslim world
from 25 March 1949 to 28 March 1949Operation Priboi
1952Discovery of Hofmeyr Skull
17 July 1959Mary Leakey finds Zinjanthropus at Olduvai Gorge
from 2 January 1964 to 28 March 19641964 East Pakistan riots
14 October 1969Swat District
1970Discovery of Minatogawa Man
1972Discovery of Lloyds Bank coprolite
1973Discovery of Ndutu cranium
24 November 1974Discovery of Lucy
1975Discovery of Luzia
1978Discovery of Dali Man
1978The Laetoli footprints are uncovered
1980Discovery of Xiahe mandible
1984The Turkana Boy skeleton is found
1985Discovery of KNM WT 17000
from November 1987 to February 19881987–1988 violence in Kafan
1989The golden toad is seen for the last time
12 August 1990Discovery of Sue
1993Discovery of Altamura Man
1995Discovery of Little Foot
October 1996Sinosauropteryx, the first feathered dinosaur, is announced
2000Discovery of Selam
6 January 2000The last Pyrenean ibex dies and is later cloned
June 2001Discovery of Tianyuan man
28 October 2004The 'hobbit' Homo floresiensis is announced
2005Discovery of Kadanuumuu
December 2006The Yangtze river dolphin is declared functionally extinct
2008Discovery of Manot 1
1 October 2009'Ardi', Ardipithecus ramidus, is announced
2010The Denisovans are identified
10 November 2011The western black rhinoceros is declared extinct
24 June 2012Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise, dies
May 2013Discovery of Happisburgh footprints
10 September 2015Homo naledi is announced from the Rising Star cave
from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022Tigray war
from 24 September 2023 to 3 October 2023Expulsion of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians

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