TST Evolution Timeline

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

(Plants | Animals > Cephlapods | Insects | Fish > Amphibians > Reptiles > Dinosaurs & Birds | Synapsids & Mammals)

Evolution: This timeline of evolution brings some sense of perspective to the very long and complicated history of life on Earth. This timeline is intended to help with the big picture. This timeline brings together various scientific disciplines including plate tectonics, evolution, anthropology, and genetics. The process by which new species arise is well-understood, the evidence compelling and conclusive, our knowledge complete. We can read the fossil record like a book and on these pages we see changes gradually accumulate over millennia. Check out A Short Summary of Evolution for an introduction to how evolution works.

Evolution

Our true origin story.

LUCA: Last Universal Common Ancestor

3.6 Billion BCE

Spedulative guess: 3.5 to 3.8 Billion Years Ago

Second Oceans: From Fresh to Salty

3.5 Billion Years Ago

3.5 to 2.5 Billion Years Ago

Oldest Known Fossil-Microorganisms

3.42 Billion BCE

3.42 to 3.7 Billion BCE

Cyanobacteria: Sun Energy as Food!

2.7 Billion Years Ago

2.7 to 2.6 BYA

The First True Eukaryotes

2.4 Billion Years Ago (+/- 300 million years)

Third Atmosphere: Oxygen Atmosphere

2.4 Billion Years Ago

2.4 BYA to about 540 MYA

Protozoa Evolve

2 Billion Years Ago (+/- 100 million years)

Nucleus and internal organelles

Animals, Plants, and Fungi Split

1.7 Billion BCE

Stable cell types, communication

Red-Green Algae Split

1.5 Billion Years Ago (+/- 100 million years)

Chloroplast refinement, chlorophyll variants

Blood Emerges

1.2 Billion Years Ago

Sexual Reproduction

Before 1 Billion BCE

Precambrian era

Touch Emerges: Proto-Sensing.

800 Million Years Ago

Proto-Sensing.

First Multicellular Animals

640 Million Years Ago

640 to 600 Million Years Ago

First Egg Layers

638 Million Years Ago

640 to 600 Million Years Ago

Presentient Animals Emerge: The Ediacaran Prelude

635-600 Million Years Ago

Proto-brain; Pre-brain memory; Presentient.

Chemoreception: Taste and Smell Emerge

600 Mya

First True Animals – Comb Jellyfish

560 Million BCE

560 to 550 Million Years Ago

Vision Emerges: The Pre-fish Chordates

540 Mya

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

First Vertebrates

530 Million BCE

530 to 520 Million Years Ago

Earliest Known Hunter

520 Million Years Ago

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

Simple Sentience Settles: Haikouichthys

520 Million BCE

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

Simple Cephalopod Sentience Evolves

510 Million BCE

Not a fish ancestor, not our ancestor.

First Land Plants

470 Million BCE

Early water transport

Keratin Genes & the Rise of Scales in Fish

425 Million Years Ago

425 MYA (+/- 15 Million Years)

Oldest Known Air Breather

414 Million BCE

Lungs Evolve: Lobe-Finned Fish and the Lungfish Ancestor

400 Million BCE

First True Trees

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

The Senegal Bichir: A Living Fossil

~380 million years ago (± 15 million)

Air breathing lungs and lobed pectoral fins

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.

Reptile Amniotic Eggs

318 Million BCE

First Land Herbivore: Tyrannoroter heberti

307 million years ago

2026 Discovery Pushing Back Herbivores

Stem Selachians: Modern Sharks LCA

~300 million years ago (± 10 million years)

Proto-Play

300 million years ago

±20 million years

Early Complex Sentience Emerges: Dimetrodon

295 Million BCE

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

Ginkgo biloba-like Trees: True Leaves

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

Ginkgo biloba — A Living Fossil in My Backyard

~270 million years ago (± 20 million years)

Plate Tectonics

Circa 260 Million BCE

Pine Needles Evolve

252 MYA (+/- 5 million years)

Pangaea Super Continent Breakup

250 Million BCE to 1 CE

Dinosauromorphs Emerge: Asilisaurus kongwe

245 Million Years Ago

Nyasasaurus parringtoni

243 Million Years Ago

XX/XY Sex System Emerges: A Tale of Mammalian Evolution

240 Million Years Ago

Marasuchus lilloensis

240 Million Years Ago

First True Dinosaur: Eoraptor lunensis.

229 Million Years Ago

± 1.5 million years

Platypus–Ape Common Ancestor

225 million years ago (±5 million years)

When dinosaurs rose, our line quietly began.

Morganucodon: An Early Mammalian Herbivore

205 Million BCE

around 205-200 million years ago

Early Play Evolves in Mammals

190 Million Years Ago (+/- 10 million years)

Mammals: First Live Births

185 Million BCE

Modern Trees: Modern Leaves

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

The First Flowers

By 130 Million Years Ago

Molecular analysis might push this back to 149 or maybe even 256 mya.

Complex Sentience Settles: Eomaia scansoria

circa 125 Million BCE

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

Animal Vocabulary: Dozens of Words

125 Million Years Ago

Appendix

80 Million BCE

Higher Play Evolves in Social Mammals

80 Million Years Ago (+/- 10 million years)

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

Opening of the North Atlantic Ocean

56 Million BCE

Early Self-Awareness: Miacis

50 Million BCE

Ape Thumb Evolves

32 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 million)

Early Intelligence Emerges: Aegyptopithecus zeuxis

30 Million BCE

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

Baboons Branch Off: Old World Monkeys

27 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 million)

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.

Gibbons Branch Off: Genus Hylobates

17 Million Years Ago

± 1 million

Animal Vocabulary: Thousands of Words (The Great Apes)

circa 15 Million Years Ago

Orangutans Branch Off: Genus Sivapithecus

Emerged 12.5 to 12 mya, extinct 8.5 to 7 mya.

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

Gorillas Branch Off: Genus Nakalipithecus

Emerged 10 mya, extinct 9.8 to 9 mya.

Ancestral Hominids (us, pre-split)

Emergence of the Chimpanzee Family

2 Million BCE

Hominids, Not Us (different branch)

Genus Orangutans

400,000 Years Ago