Chronology of Prehistory

13.7 billion BC – the Big Bang (current age of the universe is 0.0137% of total age of Stelliferous Era):

1 million–100 trillion years after Big Bang – Stelliferous Era

4.6–4 billion BC – Hadean Eon

4.6 billion–541 million BC – Precambrian Eon

4.54–4.0 billion BC – Earth forms by accretion from the solar nebula

4.543 billion BC – very large (Mars-sized) planetesimal hits the earth, splitting off material that formed the Moon (see Giant impact hypothesis)

4.280 billion BC – emergence of life on Earth

3.900–2.500 billion – prokaryote-like cells appear

2.800 billion BC – oldest evidence for microbial life on the land

2.5–1.5 billion BC – time of supercontinent Columbia (Nuna / Hudsonland)

2.4–2.1 billion BC – Huronian glaciation (300 million year length)

1.850 billion BC – appearance of eukaryotic cells

1,500–1,200 million BC – breakup of Columbia (Nuna / Hudsonland)

1.23 billion BC – supercontinent Rodinia already formed?

1.1–0.9 billion BC? – formation of supercontinent Rodinia

900–c. 750 million BC – time of supercontinent Rodinia:

900–c.750 million BC – time of supercontinent Rodinia
c. 650–560 million BC – time of supercontinent Pannotia (Vendian supercontinent, Greater Gondwana, Pan-African supercontinent)

c. 850–635 million BC – Sturtian-Varangian glaciation: glacial conditions may have existed all the way to the equator (“Snowball Earth”):

2.4–2.1 billion BC – Huronian glaciation (300 million year length)
c. 850–635 million BC – Sturtian-Varangian glaciation (215 million year length):

c. 717–643 million BC – Sturtian glaciation
c. 715–680 million BC – Sturtian glaciation (Stern et al.)

650–635 million BC – worldwide Marinoan glaciation in Cryogenian period (Snowball Earth)
450–420 million BC – Andean-Saharan glaciation (30 million year length)
360–260 million BC – late Paleozoic icehouse (Karoo ice age)
260–33.9 million BC – last greenhouse period
c. 170–c. 165 million BC – Jurassic period Ice Age, caused by large-scale volcanic event (North Sea Dome)
33.9 million BC–present – Late Cenozoic Ice Age (Antarctic Glaciation), present icehouse climate
2.58 million–present – Quaternary glaciation (2.58 million year length)

750 million BC – first protozoa

750–633 million BC – breakup of supercontinent Rodinia

720–635 million BC – Cryogenian Period

650–635 million BC – the Marinoan glaciation, worldwide glaciation during the Cryogenian period, possibly covering the entire planet (Snowball Earth)

c. 650–560 million BC – time of supercontinent Pannotia (Vendian supercontinent, Greater Gondwana, Pan-African supercontinent)

635–541 million BC – Ediacaran Period

633–573 million BC – continental fragments form supercontinent Pannotia

600 million BC – atmospheric oxygen accumulation causes formation of an ozone layer

580–542 million BC – Ediacara biota are first large, complex aquatic multicellular organisms

550–180 million BC – time of supercontinent Gondwana

541–0 million BC – Phanerozoic Eon

541 million BC – beginning of Cambrian explosion

541–485.4 million BC – Cambrian Period (duration of 55.6 million years)

530 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Water Dwellers”:

418 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Water Dwellers” (Silurian)
360 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Water Dwellers” (Devonian)

511 million BC – earliest crustaceans

485.4–443.8 million BC – Ordovician Period

450–420 million BC – Andean-Saharan glaciation (during the late Ordovician and the Silurian period), known from Arabia, Sahara, West Africa, the south Amazon, and the Andes: center of glaciation migrated from Sahara in the Ordovician (450–440 Ma) to South America in the Silurian (440–420 Ma)

443.8–419.2 million BC – Silurian Period

419.2–358.9 million BC – Devonian Period

365–363 million BC – time of Hynerpeton early four-limbed vertebrate

360 million BC – time of Hyneria, a genus of large prehistoric predatory lobe-finned fish about 2.5–3.7 m in total length

360–260 million BC – late Paleozoic icehouse (Karoo ice age): ice may have come in regular cycles

358.9–298.9 million BC – Carboniferous Period

335–175 million BC – time of Pangaea, a supercontinent centred on Equator and surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa

c.315 million BC – evolution of the first reptiles

305 million BC – Carboniferous rainforest collapse (CRC), minor extinction event

303.4–272.5 million BC – time of Edaphosaurus (late Carboniferous–early Permian)

300 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Reptile’s Beginnings” in Kansas, USA:

280 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Reptile’s Beginnings” in Bromacker, Germany

298.9–251.9 BC – Permian Period:

4.6–4.0 billion BC – Hadean eon
4–2.5 billion BC – Archean eon
2500–541 million BC – Proterozoic eon
1600–1400 million BC – Calymmian Period
1400–1200 million BC – Ectasian Period
1200–1000 million BC – Stenian Period
1000–720 million BC – Tonian Period
720–635 million BC – Cryogenian Period
635–541 million BC – Ediacaran Period
541–0 million BC – Phanerozoic Eon 541–485.4 million BC – Cambrian Period
485.4–443.8 million BC – Ordovician Period
443.8–419.2 million BC – Silurian Period
419.2–358.9 million BC – Devonian Period
358.9–298.9 million BC – Carboniferous Period
298.9–251.9 BC – Permian Period
251.902–201.3 million BC – Triassic Period
251.902–66 million BC – Mesozoic Era 201.3–145 million BC – Jurassic Period
145–66 million BC – Cretaceous Period
66–0 million BC – Cenozoic Era
66–23.03 million BC – Paleogene Period:

66–56 million BC – Paleocene epoch
56–34 million BC – Eocene Epoch
33.9–23 million BC – Oligocene epoch

23.03–2.58 million BC – Neogene Period
2.58–0 million BC – Quaternary Period

2,588,000–9,700 BC – the Pleistocene epoch
9,700 BC–present – Holocene epoch

295–272 million BC – time of Dimetrodon

280–240 million BC – East Asia collides with West Eurasia (still attached to Pangaea)

265.0–252.3 million BC – time of Inostrancevia (Gorgonopsidae)

265–254 million BC – time of Scutosaurus (in Russia)

260–33.9 million BC – last greenhouse period from late Permian Period to middle of the Cenozoic Era (lasted 226.1 million years):

2.4–2.1 billion BC – Huronian icehouse (300 million year length)
2,100–720 million BC – greenhouse period (lasted 1.38 billion years)
720–635 million BC – Cryogenian icehouse (lasted 85 million years)
635–450 million BC – greenhouse period (lasted 185 million years)
450–420 million BC – Andean-Saharan glaciation (lasted 30 million years)
420–360 million BC – greenhouse period (lasted 60 million years)
360–260 million BC – Late Paleozoic Ice Age (Karoo ice age; lasted 100 million years)
260–33.9 million BC – greenhouse period (lasted 226.1 million years):

c. 170–c. 165 million BC – Jurassic Ice Age
94–82  million BC – Cretaceous Greenhouse
58–50 million BC – Eocene hothouse

33.9 million BC–2021 – Late Cenozoic Ice Age (33.9 million years)

260–250 million BC – no ice caps during the late Permian; this possibly causes stagnant oceans and anoxic water

260–254 million BC – time of the Gorgonops, an extinct genus of therapsid, the dominant predators of their time

256–255 million BC – time of Euchambersia, genus of therocephalian therapsid in what is now South Africa

255–250 million BC – time of Lystrosaurus

252–250 million BC – time of Proterosuchus

c. 252–c. 251 million BC – 0.5–1 million years of volcanic eruptions (the Siberian Traps)

c. 251.941–251.880 million BC – Permian–Triassic extinction event (End-Permian Extinction / Great Dying) over about 60,000 years (60 ± 48 ka): most severe known extinction event, with up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct; nearly all the trees died

251.9–201.3 million BC – Triassic Period (duration of 50.6 millions years)

250 million BC – Pangaea has a large central desert

250 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Clash of Titans”:

248 million BC – date of Walking With Monsters “Clash of Titans” (Triassic, Antarctica)

250–150 million BC – Pangaea forms one super continent with one gargantuan ocean

240–220 million BC – break-up of Eurasia from Pangaea

233 million BC – huge volcanic eruptions on what becomes the west coast of Canada eject carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour into atmosphere: this leads to massive global warming

c. 230 million BC – Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE): mass extinction of dominant tetrapods; shift to humid, rainy global climate

221–203 million – time of the Postosuchus

221–216 million BC – time of Placerias

220 million BC – date of Walking with Dinosaurs “New Blood” (Late Triassic, Arizona)

214–204 million BC – time of the Plateosaurus (Late Triassic)

201.3 million BC – Triassic–Jurassic extinction, major extinction events of the Phanerozoic eon: 23–34% of marine genera disappeared; all archosaurs other than crocodylomorphs (Sphenosuchia and Crocodyliformes) and Avemetatarsalia (pterosaurs and dinosaurs) died

201.3–145 million BC – Jurassic Period (duration of 56.3 million years)

200–170 million BC – break-up of Pangaea into North and South America; east Eurasia and Europe break from Pangaea

170 million BC – Gondwana separated from Pangaea;

c. 170–c. 165 million BC – Jurassic period Ice Age, caused by large-scale volcanic event (North Sea Dome)

166–155 million BC – time of Liopleurodon (temporal range: Middle-Late Jurassic)

165–160 million BC – time of marine Ophthalmosaurus (ichthyosaur)

156.3–146.8 million BC – time of the Brontosaurus in North America

155–145 million BC – time of the Allosaurus

155.7–147 million BC – time of the marine Pliosaurus

154–152 million BC – time of Diplodocus (mid-western North America at the end of the Jurassic period)

154–144 million BC – time of the Stegosaurus (in the western United States and Portugal?)

154–153 million BC – time of the Brachiosaurus (living in North America in Late Jurassic)

154 million BC – date of Planet Dinosaur “Feathered Dragons” in Late Jurassic Beijing, China, Asia, Mongolia, Asia, and Jilin, China, Asia

152 million – Pangaea broken up into North and South America for 20 million years (since 170 million BC); climate wetter

152 million – date of Walking with Dinosaurs “Time of the Titans” in Late Jurassic Colorado, Pangaea

150 million BC – date of Planet Dinosaur “Fight for Life” in Late Jurassic Svalbard, Europe and Oklahoma, USA, North America

149 million BC – date of Walking with Dinosaurs “Cruel Sea” in Late Jurassic Oxfordshire and Tethys sea

145–66 million BC – Cretaceous Period (duration of 79 million years)

c. 142.5 million BC – asteriod hits future Gosses Bluff (southern Northern Territory, Australia) (± 0.8 million years ago), close to the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary

140–105 million BC – Africa separates from South America

127 million BC – date of Walking with Dinosaurs “Giant of the Skies” in Early Cretaceous Brazil, North America, Europe and Cantabria

124.6 million BC – time of Yutyrannus found in northeastern China, a feathered proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid dinosaur

120–100 million BC – time of Kronosaurus, a short-necked pliosaur with length of 9-10.9 meters: fossil material from Australia and Colombia

120–110 million BC – time of the Koolasuchus (brachyopoid temnospondyl), found in Victoria, Australia

120–80 million BC – Cretaceous Thermal Maximum: average land temperatures about 6 degrees C higher than today, and sea surface temperatures about 9 degrees C higher

118–112 million BC – cold snap during the Cretaceous Period

118–110 million BC – time of the Leaellynasaura (first discovered in Dinosaur Cove, Australia)

112.03–93.5 million BC – time of Spinosaurus in North Africa

110 million BC – rising warming of Cretaceous Thermal Maximum

106 million BC – date of Walking with Dinosaurs “Spirits of the Ice Forest” in early Cretaceous Antarctica

105 million BC – Australia connected to Antarctica

105–80 million BC – high sea levels: many areas of the continents underwater

105–103 million BC – time of Muttaburrasaurus (northeastern Australia)

101–66 million BC – time of the Mosasaurs (38 genera in total; largest known species up to 17 meters):

166–155 million BC – time of Liopleurodon (temporal range: Middle-Late Jurassic; largest species up to 10 meters)

c. 100.5 million–66 million – time of Hațeg Island in Europe, an island in the Tethys Sea

95 million BC – date of Planet Dinosaur “Lost World” (episode 1), set in Egypt and North Africa

95–80 million BC – time of Gigantoraptor in Asia

95 million BC – date of Planet Dinosaur “New Giants” in Argentina, South America and Egypt, North Africa

c. 95 million BC – time of the Australovenator (megaraptorid theropod), Australia

94–82  million BC – Cretaceous Hot Greenhouse climate

c. 93.9–89.8 million BC – Turonian ICS' geologic timescale

92–91 million BC – time of Nothronychus (theropod dinosaur in the group Therizinosauria) in North America

90 million BC – peak of the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum (CTM): much of Eurasia and Americas underwater

85 million BC – date of Planet Dinosaur “The Great Survivors”:

65 million BC – Late Cretaceous on Hațeg Island (Romania)
92 million BC – Late Cretaceous, Zuni Basin, USA, North America
85 million BC – Late Cretaceous Mongolia, Asia

80 million BC – late Cretaceous period sea levels were 550 feet (170 m) higher than today

77–74 million BC – time of Daspletosaurus torosus in Alberta, and Daspletosaurus horneri in Montana (Daspletosaurus is genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur)

76.5–75.5 million BC – time of Centrosaurus (herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaurs) in Canada

75 million BC – date of Planet Dinosaur “Last Killers” in Alaska, North America and Madagascar, Africa

73–66 million BC – time of Edmontosaurus (hadrosaurid = duck-billed dinosaur) in north America

71–66 million BC – time of Magyarosaurus in Romania

70–66 million BC – time of Majungasaurus in Madagascar

68–66 million BC – time of Tyrannosaurus (western North America in Late Cretaceous)

66 million BC – much of southern Eurasia and Europe still underwater

66 million BC – time of Hatzegopteryx (azhdarchid pterosaur) on Hațeg Island (Romania)

c. 66 million BC – Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction), sudden mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth

65.5 million BC – date of Walking with Dinosaurs “Death of a Dynasty,” in Cretaceous Montana

66–23.03 million BC – Paleogene Period:

66–0 million BC – Cenozoic Era
66–23.03 million BC – Paleogene Period:

66–56 million BC – Paleocene epoch
56–34 million BC – Eocene Epoch
33.9–23 million BC – Oligocene epoch

58–50 million BC – long-term warming trend from the Late Paleocene through the early Eocene

56–34 million BC – Eocene Epoch

55.5 million BC – Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) (Eocene thermal maximum 1, ETM1; Initial Eocene/Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum), 5–8 °C global average temperature rise

53.7 million BC – Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM-2) (H-1 or the Elmo = Eocene Layer of Mysterious Origin) event: transient period of global warming as the second major hyperthermal that punctuated the long-term warming trend

50 million BC – much of North America, South America, Europe, Eurasia, and Antarctica underwater

50–40 million BC – India colludes with Asia

50–40 million BC – Himalayas begin to form

49 million BC – date of Walking with Beasts “New Dawn” in Early Eocene (Germany)

47.8–41.3 million BC – time of Ambulocetus (“walking whale”)

41.3–33.9 million BC – time of Basilosaurus (Late Eocene)

36 million BC – date of Walking with Beasts “Whale Killer” in Late Eocene North Africa, Pakistan, Tethys Sea

34–23 million BC – time of the Paraceratherium

33.9–23 million BC – Oligocene epoch

33.9 million BC–present – Late Cenozoic Ice Age (Antarctic Glaciation), present icehouse climate

25 million BC – date of Walking with Beasts “Land of Giants” in Late Oligocene Mongolia

c. 23–3.6 million BC – time of Megalodon

20,000,000–13,000,000 BC – time of Phorusrhacos (Terror Bird), large, flightless bird, top predator in North America and then after migration to South America

14 million BC – Antarctica freezes over

5.3–2.6 million BC – extension of Arctic ice

5,000,000–8,000 BC – time of Megatherium in South America

3.2 million BC – date of Walking with Beasts “Next of Kin” in Late Pliocene Ethiopia

2.6 million BC – Arctic ice cap forms

2.58–0 million years ago – Quaternary period:

2,588,000–9,700 BC – the Pleistocene epoch
9,700 BC–present – Holocene epoch

2.58 million–present – Quaternary glaciation (Pleistocene glaciation): alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during Quaternary period; since Earth still has ice sheets, geologists consider the Quaternary glaciation to be ongoing: Earth now experiencing an interglacial period:

cause of Quaternary glaciation: fall in CO2 levels in atmosphere owing to the weathering of Himalayas
(1) 2.58–1 million BC – ice advances and retreats in glacial–interglacial period roughly every 41,000 years (following changes in tilt of Earth’s axis)
(2) 1 million–c. 9,700 BC – ice advances and retreats in 100,000-year cycle
(3) 128,000–112,000 BC – ice retreats during the Eemian interglacial
(4) c. 113,000–c. 9,700 BC – Last Glacial Period (LGP)
(5) c. 27,000–18,000 BC – Last Glacial Maximum (when the ice sheets were at their greatest extension)
(6) c. 14,000–c. 13,000 BC – the Oldest Dryas, a cold period
(7) 10,900–9,700 BC – mini ice age the Younger Dryas causes sharp decline in temperatures over much of the northern hemisphere
(8) 250 BC–AD 400 – Roman Warm Period

2.5 million–8,000 BC – time of Smilodon (saber-toothed cat / saber-toothed tiger), living in the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch

2,000,000–c. 8,000 BC – time of Doedicurus (glyptodont) in South America

1 million BC – date of Walking with Beasts “Sabre Tooth” in early Pleistocene Paraguay

c. 600,000–370,000 years ago – time of the steppe mammoth, which populated northern Eurasia

c.400,000–8,000 BC – time of the Woolly mammoth

c. 250,000–c. 37,000 BC – time of the Neanderthals

130,000–114,000 years ago – Eemian interglacial

c. 113,000–c. 9,700 BC – Last Glacial Period (LGP) from the end of the Eemian to the end of the Younger Dryas: part of larger cycles of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation

113,000–9,700 BC – the Würm glaciation, last glacial period of the Alpine region of Europe

108,000–9,700 BC – last Ice Age

c. 73,000 BC (± 900 years) – Lake Toba supervolcanic eruption (in Sumatra, Indonesia), largest known explosive eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years

70,000 years ago – cold, dry low point; most of northern Europe and Canada were covered by thick ice sheets

c. 65,000 BC – humans occupying Madjedbebe in Australia

c. 48,000–28,000 BC – the time of the Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa, with a wet and rainy climate

60,000 years ago – humans settle New Guinea

28,000 BC – date of Walking with Beasts “Mammoth Journey” in Late Pleistocene Belgium

28,000 BC – East Asia was reached by Homo sapiens

28,000–13,000 BC – last cool phase of the Ice age; humans withdraw from north Eurasia to more southerly areas

c. 27,000–18,000 BC – Last Glacial Maximum (when the ice sheets were at their greatest extension)

26,000 BC – last group of Neanderthals disappear from southern Spain

c. 24,500 BC – ice sheets at their greatest extension during Last Glacial Maximum

c. 18,000–17,000 BC – deglaciation began in the Northern Hemisphere gradually

7,000–3,000 BC – Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO)

1,560 BC – eruption of Santorini volcano destroys Minoans on Crete

250 BC–AD 400 – Roman Warm Period (Roman Climatic Optimum), unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic (not global?)

c. 950–c. 1250 – Medieval Warm Period (MWP)