Evolution TL: March to Life > Evolution > Great Apes > Human > Consciousness > All to Us

From Atoms to Human: This timeline tells the complete story from the Big Bang to modern civilization. The epic tale from space dust to inorganic molecules to the first DNA life all the way to modern civilization.

Big Bang Expansion

13.8 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

First Atoms

13.7 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Population III Stars: Heavier Elements

13.6 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Population II Stars: Heavy Element Synthesis

13.59 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Galaxies are Born

13.4 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Birth of the Milky Way

About 13.39 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Population I Stars: Like our Sun

10 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Interstellar Clouds: Organic Molecules

10 Billion Years Ago

Verified: 10 to 7 Billion Years Ago

Birth of the Sun

4.6 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

Earth is Born

4.5 Billion Years Ago

Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.

First Atmosphere: Hydrogen & Helium

4.48 Billion Years Ago

4.49 to 4.6 Billion Years Ago

Inorganic Precursors to Organic Molecules

4.45 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 4.2 to 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Second Atmosphere: Carbon Dioxide & Nitrogen

4.3 Billion Years Ago

4.5 to 4 Billion Years Ago

First Oceans: Fresh Water

4.2 Billion Years Ago

4 to 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Chemical Evolution of Organic Molecules

4.1 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 4 to 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Formation of Prebiotic Microenvironments

4 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 3.9 to 4.1 Billion Years Ago

First Life: Self-Replicating Molecules

3.95 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 3.85 to 4.15 Billion Years Ago

Cellular Membranes

3.9 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 3.8 to 4.1 Billion Years Ago

RNA World

3.85 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 3.75 to 4.05 Billion Years Ago

Assembly of Protocells

3.8 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 3.7 to 4 Billion Years Ago

Metabolic Pathways

3.75 Billion Years Ago

Spedulative guess: 3.65 to 3.95 Billion Years Ago

Prokaryotic Life

3.7 Billion Years Ago; Before LUCA

Spedulative guess: 3.6 to 3.9 Billion Years Ago

LUCA – Last Universal Common Ancestor

3.6 Billion BCE

Spedulative guess: 3.5 to 3.8 Billion Years Ago

Touch Emerges: Proto-Sensing.

800 Mya

Proto-Sensing.

Presentient Animals Emerge: The Ediacaran Prelude

635-600 Million Years Ago

Proto-brain; Pre-brain memory; Presentient.

Chemorecption: Taste and Smell Emerge

600 Mya

Vision Emerges: The Pre-fish Chordates

540 Mya

Vision Emerges; Proto-Simple Brains; Pre-vertebrate Cord.

Simple Sentience Settles: Haikouichthys

520 Million BCE

Simple Brains; Proto-Short-Term Memory; Simple Sentience.

Long-Term Memory Evolves: Tiktaalik

375 Mya

Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Simple Sentience.

Land Hearing Emerges: Amphibians

370 Mya

Land Hearing Emerges; Yet Larger Brains.

Early Complex Sentience Emerges: Dimetrodon

295 Million BCE

Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Early Complex Sentience.

Morganucodon: An Early Mammalian Herbivore

205 Million BCE

around 205-200 million years ago

Complex Sentience Settles: Eomaia scansoria

circa 125 Million BCE

Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Likely Proto Self-aware.

Appendix

80 Million BCE

Purgatorius — Earliest known proto-primate.

66 Million BCE

Cretaceous End -- Tertiary Start

Opposable Thumb Emerges

60 Million Years Ago

Plesiadapis: First fruit-insect eaters.

58 Million BCE

circa 55-58 million years ago

Early Self-Awareness: Miacis

50 Million BCE

Early Intelligence Emerges: Aegyptopithecus zeuxis

30 Million BCE

Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Semi Self-awareness settles in.

Great Ape Thumb Evolves

30 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million years)

Panamacebus transitus: Earliest Known Monkey in the Americas

circa 21 Million Years Ago

Genus Proconsul (Self-Awareness Settles)

20 Million Year Ago (+/- 2 Million Years)

Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Maybe Self-aware; Likely Simple EI.

Emergence of Blood Type Variability in Primates

circa 20 million years ago

Phenotype Variations

Great Apes: Medicine Emerges

18 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million years)

Emergence of the Great Apes (Great Apes LCA)

17 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 Million Years)

Genus Kenyapithecus: EI Emerges

16 Million Years Ago

Survived from 16 to 14 MYA.

Skin Color Diversity Across and within Primate Species

By 14 Million Years Ago

Phenotype Variations

Genus Dryopithecus: Cultural Transmission Emerges

Emerged 13 mya, extinct 9 to 7 mya

Cultural Transmission

Genus Nakalipithecus: Gorillas Branch Off

Emerged 10 mya, extinct 9.8 to 9 mya.

Ancestral Hominids (us, pre-split)

Transition from Trees to Savannah Begins

9 Million Years Ago

Chimpanzees Branch Off (CHLCA)

7.5 Million Years Ago

Hominini Tribe: Chimpanzee Branch Off

Genus: Sahelanthropus (Walking Upright)

7 Million BCE

Hominin

Genus: Orrorin

6 Million Years Ago

Hominin, Maybe Us

Genus: Ardipithecus

5.8 Million Years Ago

Hominin, Maybe Us, 5.8 to 4.4 million years ago

Echoes of Early Steps: The Laetoli Footprints

3.66 Million Years Ago

Hominin

Early Wood tools

3.4 Million Years Ago

Early Stone Tools

3.3 Million BCE

Hominins

Collective Learning Emerges

3.3 Million Years Ago

Human Thumb Evolves

3 Million Years Ago (+/- 400,000 years)

Genus: Australopithecus

2.9 Million BCI

Hominin, Us, From 4.2 to 2 MYA

Homo habilis: Our Intelligence Settles.

2.3 Million BCE

First Proto-Containers

2 Million Years Ago

Homo erectus: A True Omnivore

1.9 Million BCE

Emergence of Early Hominin Shelters

1.8 Million Years Ago (+/- 500,000 years)

Oldest Modern Human-like Footprints

1.52 Million BCE

1.53 to 1.51 Million BCE

Less Body Hair Emerges in Homo erectus

1.2 Million BCE

Supported by DNA evidence.

Homo antecessor: Earlier Modern Looks

1.2 Million Years Ago

Rapid Brain Growth

800,000 BCE

800,000 to 200,000 BCE

Fire-Altered Stone Tools

790,000 BCE

Genus Homo

Hyoid Bone: Speach Emerges

700,000 BCE

Full Emotional Intelligence Emerges

700,000 Years Ago

Homo heidelbergensis

Circa 640,000 Years Ago

Homo heidelbergensis on Earth from about 640,000 to 200,000 BCE.

First Clothes: Proto-Clothing and the Advent of Garments

600,000 Years Age

Transcendental Intelligence Emerges

475,000 Years Ago

Neanderthal-Sapien LCA

440,000 Years Ago

Homo neanderthalensis: Verified True Symbolic Thought

430,000 BCE

On Earth from 430,000 to 29,000 BCE

Terra Amata Site, France

circa 400,000 Years Ago

Nice, France

Oldest Surviving Spear

350,000 BCE

400,000 to 300,000 BCE

Homo naledi: A Likely Hybrid

335,000 BCE

Human, but probably not our human branch.

Homo Sapiens: Advanced Transcendental Intelligence

315,000 BCE

Venus of Tan-Tan

300,000 BCE

Africa; 300,000 to 500,000 years ago

Neanderthal-Denisovan Split

300,000 BCE

500 to 30 Thousand BCE

Hominin World Population: 2 Million (maybe)

300,000 BCE

Very speculative.

Homo rhodesiensis: A Hybrid Lesson

300,000 Years Ago

Survived from about 300,000 to 125,000 years ago.

Bhimbetka Petroglyphs, Cupules

Before 290,000 BCE

Hominins; 290,000 to 700,000 years ago

Adam: Haplogroup A

275,000 BCE

Extinction: Homo naledi

236,000 Years Ago

Extinction: Homo heidelbergensis

200,000 Years Ago

Eve: Haplogroup L

175,000 BCE

200,000 to 150,000 BCE

Modern Human Looks and Brains

150,000 BCE

200,000 to 150,000 BCE

Homo longi: Rewriting Human Migration Narratives

146,000 Years Ago

Extinction: Homo rhodesiensis

125,000 Years Ago

Many Early Out of Africa Migrations

120,000 BCE

130,000 to 100,000 BCE

Blombos Cave Engravings

75,000 BCE

Oldest Known Bracelet

70,000 BCE

2,880 Generations Ago

The Settlement of Australia

65,000 BCE

Homo sapiens or an earlier Homo species

Extinction: Homo luzonensis

65,000 BCE

“The” Human DNA

60,000 BCE

2,400 Generations Ago

Successful Out of Africa Migration

55,000 BCE

70,000 to 55,000 BCE

World Population: 1.5 Million

50,000 BCE

Estimates range from 500,000 to 2.5 million

Extinction: Homo Erectus

50,000 BCE

Extinction: Homo floresiensis

48,000 BCE

58,000 to 48,000 BCE

Phenotype Variation: Eye Shape and the Epicanthic Fold

circa 40,000 BCE

Extinction: Denisovans

40,000

Extinction: Neanderthals

38,000 BCE

Extinction range: 38,000 BCE to 22,000 BCE

Advanced Sewing Needles

28,000 BCE

28,000 to 21,000 BCE

Modern Skin Color Variety Emerges

By 25,000 Years Ago (+/- 10,000 years)

Phenotype Variation: Blue Eyes

8000 BCE

Genetic Mutation from the Neolithic Era

Mexico: Guilá Naquitz (Agrarian)

circa 8000 BCE

Americas Agrarian Society

Phenotype Variation: Lactose Tollerance

7500 BCE

Fuxi (伏羲)

Circa 8000-7000 BCE

Nüwa (女娲)

Circa 8000-7000 BCE

Cuneiform Writing

3400 BCE

3400 BCE to 100 CE (end of use for scholarly work)

The Yellow Emperor (Huangdi)

circa 2650 BCE (+/- 50 years)

Thales of Miletus (624 – 546 BCE)

Early or "First" Science

The Grandfather of Western Philosophy

Library of Ashurbanipal

Built circa 700 BCE, destroyed 612 BCE.

Socrates (469 – 399 BCE)

Socratic Questioning

Father of Western Ethics

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Scientific Method

Father of Empiricism

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

British Naturalist

Special Relativity

Jun 1905

General Relativity

Nov 1915

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)

20 May 1965

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Evolution TL: March to Life > Evolution > Great Apes > Human > Consciousness > All to Us