Evolution of the World
From the Big Bang to Civilization

15,000 Mya: Big Bang !

bang

Solar system

15,000 Mya: Beginning of our Universe 
2x2spacer- 14,500,000,000 years ago !
  4,000 Mya: Our Sun and planets coalesce
  2,000 Mya: Land solidifies and water condenses from the atmosphere

1,000 Mya: Start of life

trilobite
1,000 Mya: Life starts in the sea as single cell bacteria
2x2spacer then algae
500 Mya:  Complex marine life like the trilobite =>
440 Mya:  the whole planet freezes over
2x2spacer- a REAL ice age lasting 20 Myears, followed by
2x2spacer 4 more major extinctions where >80% species die
400 Mya:  Sharks
250 Mya:  Appearance of first dinosaurs
200 Mya:  The first land mass starts to split up into our modern continents

pangea
Click image for better view

150 Mya:  Golden age of dinosaurs... until extinction ~ 65 Mya

edaphosaurusSpacer2ichthyosaursSpacer2brachiosaurusSpacer2spinosaurus
- Pictures from G. Rymill -

135 Mya:  First mammal (small mouse)

eomaia

100 Mya: Mammals take over

- 100 Mya:  Small mammals & birds
- 65 Mya:  Mass extinction of dinosaurs as well as 85% of land and
50px spacermarine species
50px spacerMammals proliferate
- 60 Mya:  First primates (lemurs)
- 50 Mya:  First horses
- 40 Mya:  First monkeys
- 15 Mya:  Great apes diverge from monkeys

10 MYa: Hominids

All of man's proper ancestors, hominids, start out in Africa and some of them migrate to Asia and Europe. Theories on evolution and migration depend on the discovery, classification and dating of hominid remains found around the world: see map.
missinglink_small
skeletons_small
- 6 Mya:  Appearance of bipedal apes distinct from the ancestors of chimps and gorillas ( click on images for better view! ) Morphological changes in going from ape to Homo Sapiens (see TIME article):
  • Larger brain and smaller jaw changes the skull shape
  • Prehensile toe disappears and aligns with other toes
  • Legs become longer and stronger
  • Arms shorten

- 2.6 Mya
Paranthropus bosei: Bipedal ape who shared the earth with some early Homo species, such as H. habilis, physiology tailored to a diet of grubs and plants. 4.5 feet tall, 40% brain of Sapiens. Disappeared around 1.3 Mya.

- 2.5 Mya
Homo_habilis, first real hominid:
200px-Homo_erectus.JPG
Homo Erectus
More sophisticated than previous apes who just used stones to crack nuts. Habilis developed a technique (Oldowan) to get a cutting edge on stones. These humans likely subsisted on scavenged meat and wild plants, rather than by hunting prey. H. habilis dies out around 1,500 Kya.

- 1.8 Mya:  Homo erectus: the precursor to modern man. A naked ape with a much larger brain than his predecessors, H. erectus survives for about 1.5 million years (the longest of any hominid species). The african branch of the species is sometimes called Homo ergaster. During his existence, Erectus learns to control fire and develops better stone tools (the Acheulean handaxe). Discovery of spearheads dated 1,5 Mya shows Erectus to have evolved from prey to hunter. Thus equiped, H. erectus migrated out of Africa (~ 1Mya) to populate Europe and Asia. Erectus is thought to have constructed the first "boats" (bamboo rafts) to spread through the Indonesian islands about 850,000 years ago. In spite of these achievements, H. erectus had deficient vocal structures and it is doubtful wether he developed even crude language (Wikipedia); and he did not produce any drawings or decoration, signs of abstract thought. H. erectus is replaced by more advanced hominids from Africa around 200 Kya. However, recent digs suggest that some Erectus descendants survived as pygmies on Flores until 13,000 years ago.

Meet the folks (I. Allan, from The Age)

1 Mya: Erectus and Neanderthals

Homo erectus: Spreads throughout most of the world (~ 1Mya ). This is a period of Ice Ages and Erectus, still naked, will stay close to the equator (see map). Disappears from the fossil record around 200 Kya

2x2spacerevol_map
timeline2 Ice1 ice2 ice3 ice4
The Pleistocene: Ice Ages from 2 Mya to 10 Kya
During this period, climate consists of repeated glacial cycles lasting about 200,000 years separated by warm spells. At the extreme, some continental glaciers reach the 40th parallel and cover up to 30% of the world's land mass. Typically, England is covered in ice for periods of 10,000 years. (see Wikipedia)
Each glacial advance ties up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets 1500–3000 m thick, resulting in sea level drops of 100 m or more. During glaciations, England is connected to Europe, Ethiopia to Arabia, Sumatra to Malaysia and Siberia to Alaska. Map of the last ice age.

1000 Kya, Homo antecessor / heidelbergensis Intermediate species bridging
2x2spacerthe gap between H. erectus, the first hominid to people the planet and the
2x2spacersecond wave: the Neanderthals then us, Homo Sapiens. [ Wikipedia ]

  800 Kya: First use of rafts by eastern H. Erectus to spread throughout Indonesia. On the other hand, the asian hominids never progress beyond basic Oldowan tools.


discovery_of_fire




Generalized use of FIRE
(700 Kya - 400 Kya )



   300 Kya: Neanderthals Almost humans. Found in Europe and Asia Minor [Map]. Developed better (Mousterian) stone blades and started attaching them to wood handles to obtain axes - as we know them, adzes (useful to hollow out logs) and spears. Probably the first to wear clothes: skins and furs, and start migrating towards the frozen north. [ Wikipedia ]

Title720  

200 Kya:  Homo sapiens
First appears in Eastern Africa but doesn't spread over the globe for another 100,000 years.

100 Kya: Rise of H. Sapiens

Bradshaw_video

Homo Sapiens evolves along side other humanoids around Ethiopia. Uses Mousterian stone tools and develops burial rites. The H. Sapiens migration across the planet is detailed in the Bradshaw Journey of Mankind video.

74 Kya: Toba Catastrophe - The largest volcanic explosion in 25 million years boosts the current ice age into overdrive. Many species become extinct and the world's human population is reduced to about 5,000 people.

70 Kya: The gene associated with speech appears about this time

60 Kya: H. Sapiens survivors set out once again to over the globe, eventually replacing earlier human populations [ Migration Map , Huge Map ]

40 Kya: H. Sapiens reaches Australia and Europe where they are know as Cro Magnon

Mammoth_art
Click for more art.

Abundant artwork (paintings and figurines) from this period are indications symbolic thought and fully developped language

20 Kya: H. Sapiens reaches America via the Bering land bridge

20 Kya: Extinction of the Neanderthals [ Video ]


Mesolithic_village

12 Kya: Mesolithic culture
This period starts with the improved climate after the ice age. It is marked by rapid advances in tools and changes in food gathering: where hunting is supplemented by fishing and vegetal sources. Mesolithic technology is characterized by microliths, small sharp points, and composite tools. Flint flakes were shaped into spear and javelin heads, scrapers, knives, harpoons and arrowheads. Scrapers were used to clean animal skins for clothing or covering a hut. Flint or bone points were made to bore holes in skins so that they could be sewn together. Other materials for tools included bones, antlers, teeth, and ivory.
arrowhead
This period saw the development of the axe, the bow and arrow, fishing with spears, hooks, nets and canoes. Probably also domestication of the dog, building of shelters and pottery. The Mesolithic ends with the development of agriculture and the end of nomadic life: the Neolithic period. Dating of these periods is relative because progress occurred at different times in different areas of the world. Click for tools.

10,000 ya: Start of Civilization

The Neolithic (New Stone) age marks the beginning of Civilization. It is characterized by:
  • farming
  • herding
  • polished stone axes and tools
  • timber longhouses
  • pottery
The Neolithic starts at different times in various parts of the world, depending on the end of living as small bands hunting and gathering and the start of agrarian life in villages, tending of crops and animals. This occurs around:

    - 10,000 BCE in Mid East (Jericho) and China
    - 7,000 BCE in India / Pakisan
    - 5,000 BCE in Europe

Then progress takes off....
clay_tablets

5,000 BC: Invention of the WHEEL
3,000 BC: Start of Bronze Age
2x2spacer- Invention of the WRITING cuneiform on clay
2x2spacer     tablets
2x2spacer- Menes unifies Upper and Lower Egypt
2x2spacer- Use of Hieroglyphs

pyramids3

2,500 BC:
Cheops builds the great Pyramids at Giza
2x2spacer- Minoan civilization on Crete
shangBone

2,100 BC: Xia, first dynasty of China
1,800 BC: Shang dynasty & writing system (pictograms on shells)

1,200 BC: Iron Age
2x2spacer- Phoenicians emerge as ship builders using cedars of Lebanon
2x2spacer- Master traders for the next 900 years
2x2spacer- Trojan Wars

   750 BC: Founding of Rome
  2x2spacer- Homer writes the Illiad & Odyssey
   500 BC: Classical period of Greece

  250-150 BC:
Punic wars (Rome versus Carthage)

 - Dates are expressed in Mya (millions years ago ) or Kya ( thousands of years ago )

References:

2x2spacer- Bruce McEvoy's Handprint Site
2x2spacer- R. Ciochon's Bioanthropology Site (U. Iowa)
2x2spacer- Juan Carlos Ocaña Prehistory Pages
2x2spacer- Ecotao Evolution Site
2x2spacer- Gavin Rymill Dinosaur Pages
2x2spacer- Wikipedia Dinosaur Pictures
http://www.principiosdeconomia.org/EHELP/index_archivos/prehistory/