Sagely Advice · Legacy archive
Time Lines
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Time Lines
#1There are dozens of timelines that might be useful. I am listing the Earth's historical epocs, but you could list the timeline of technical innovation, a quick history of Elizabethan or Edwardian occultism, the history of a given region or country, or any some such. I would prefer that everything be historical or factual, but as long as the timeline is well defined and titles who cares. -
A thumbnail sketch of Earth History
#2Earth's timelines: This is a thumbnail listing of Earth's epocs
This is posted up for people who are going to create worlds... to give you an idea of the scale of time.
Precambrian Up to 570 million years ago
The world is one giant landmass just emerging from the boggy mess that was before. Oceans, as we know them, begin to form.
Haydean Time: Before 4 billion years ago
No geologic record
Archean Eon: 4 Billion to 2.5 billion years ago
Continents, atmosphere and oceans form. Once celled organisms known as prokaryotes arise, the ancestors of present day bacteria and cyanobacteria
Proterozoic Eon: 2.5 Billion years to 570 million years ago
Atmospheric oxygen increases. Some organisms, known as eukaryotes, possess cellular nucleus and nuclear membrane. Multicellular organisms appear.
Paleozoic: 570 - 240 million years
Multicellular life explodes and proliferates... then nearly dies out. The continents are all still joined.
Cambrian Period
Explosion of multicellular life
Ordovician Period
Primitive life on land, vertebrates in the ocean
Silurian Period
The first plants and insects appear on land
Devonian Period
Debute of spiders, mites, and amphibians
Carboniferous period
First true reptiles appear. Coal begins to form
Permian Period
Abundant life falls pray to mysterious mass extintion. 90 percent of all organisms die out. Reptiles inheriet the earth
Mesozoic Era 240 to 65 million years ago
Dinosaurs establish their empire... sudden impact brings it all crashing down. The continents begin to spread due to tetonic plate drift. It looks like a puzzle map with all the continents mushed together.
Triassic Period 240 - 205 million
Small dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, first true mammals
Jurassic Period 205 to 139 million
Huge dinosaurs, flying pterosaurs, oldest known birds
Cretaceous Period 138 -65 million
Global warming encourages spread of dinosaurs' domain. Sudden mass extinction, perhaps due to asteroid impact, spells dinosaurs' doom. 70 percent of all organisms die out. Note: Most dinosaurs we know come from the Cretaceous period... but Cretaceous Park sounds stupid.
Cenozoic Era- Tertiary
Mammals inherit the Earth. the map looks pretty normal from our modern view.
Paleocene Epoc 65-55 million
Mammals inherit the Earth. Chief among the early mammals are marsupials, insectivores, lemuroids, creodonts (carnivores - forerunners to cats/ dogs), and hoofed creatures.
Eocene Epoch 55-38 million
Ancestral forms of the horse, rhinoceros, camel, and other modern groups such as bats, primates, and squirl like rodens appear in Europe and North America. Some mammals return to the sea.
Oligocene Epoc 38-24 million
Rhinoceroses rank as the largest mammals of any age. Identifiable ancestors of elephants, cats, dogs, monkeys, and great apes appear.
Miocene Epoc 24-5 million years ago
Global coooling creates the Antarctic ice sheet. Raccons, weasels, and similar critters make appearance. Apes roam Africa and Europe.
Pliocene Epoc 5 - 1.6 million
Climate is cooler and driers. Mammals are in every nitch. Primates disperse and protohuman ancestors appear.
Cenozoic Era- Quaternary 1.6 million to present
Pleistocene Epoc 1.6 to 10,000 years ago
Most recent global ice age, ice over 1/4th the world. Modern Humans arise and being their migrations across the globe
Holocene Epoc 10,000 to present
Global climate moderates, ice retreats. Sea Levels rise. All of recorded human history occurs NOW.