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| ERA | SUB-ERA | YRS. BEFORE PRESENT | PERIOD | EPOCH | CHARACTERIZED BY |
| Pre-Cambrian | Archeozoic | 5,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 | Earth's crust. Unicellular organisms | ||
| Pre-Cambrian | Proterozoic | 1,000,000,000 to 600,000,000 | Bacteria, algae, fungi and simple multicellular organisms | ||
| Phanerozoic** | Paleozoic | 600,000,000 to 220,000,000 | From Cambrian thru Caroniferous&Permian | Development of animals from marine invertebrates up through insects and reptiles. | |
| Phanerozoic | Mesozoic (Warm&rather uniform global climate) | 220,000,000 to 65,000,000 | Triassic | Volcanic activity, marine reptiles, dinosaurs. As period started all continents were more or less locked together in a supercontinent (Pangaea_. A great bight Tethys extended between Asia and Africa and perhaps between Old and new Worlds. Number of marine species dropped by nearly 60% , but 40% of present land area became flooded. In No. Amer. sea over entire mid-continent region from Gulf deep into Canada&from Rockies to Appalachians. Africa split into large islands. | |
| Phanerozoic | Mesozoic (Warm&rather uniform global climate) | 220,000,000 to 65,000,000 | Jurassic | Dinosaurs, conifers. | |
| Phanerozoic | Mesozoic (Warm&rather uniform global climate) | 220,000,000 to 65,000,000 | Cretaceous | Extinction of giant reptiles. Insects and flowers. | |
| Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | 65,000,000 to 38,000,000 | Tertiary | Paleocene Eocene | Birds&Mammals. |
| Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | 38,000,000 | Tertiary | Oligocene | Saber-tooth cats. Continents assumed approx. present position&a cold current circled Antarctica with relatively little water diverted northward, so temperature gradient from equator to So. Pole increased. |
| Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | 26 to 7,000,000 | Tertiary | Miocene | Grazing mammals. First major Antarctic glaciations. |
| Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | 7 to 2,000,000 | Tertiary | Pliocene | Mountains; climate cooling; increase in size and numbers of mammals. Man? |
| Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | 2,000,000 to 10,000 | Quaternary | PLEISTOCENE - ICE AGES. DEFINITE APPEARANCE OF MAN | |
| Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | 10,000 to present | Quaternary | HOLOCENE | DEVELOPMENT OF MAN, THE SOCIAL ANIMAL. |
| EPOCH | YEARS B.C. | ARCHEOLOGICAL AGE | SYNONYMS | ARCHEOLOGICAL FINDS OR HISTORICAL EVENTS |
| PLEISTOCENE | 2,000,000 TO 1,000,000 | Earliest Ice Ages | Ape-like Hominids. Astralopithecus (Others would put still earlier). | |
| PLEISTOCENE | 1,000,000 to 500,000 | Early Ice Age | Simple stone tools. Major glacial phases. | |
| PLEISTOCENE | 500,000 to 8,000 | Paleolithic Lower | Old Stone Age | Java man. Peking man - ate tiger, buffalo. Standard tool forms. Use of fire. |
| PLEISTOCENE | 500,000 to 8,000 | Paleolithic Middle | Neanderthal man about 75,000 B.C. Blade tools, fire, burials. | |
| PLEISTOCENE | 500,000 to 8,000 | Paleolithic Upper (Paleo-Indian in America) | Modern man 35,000 to 40,000 B.C. Ate rhinoceros, wild sheep and boar, but 70% venison. Probably did not cook, but had fire. Split bones for marrow. Possibly cannibalistic. Use of bone and antler. | |
| HOLOCENE | 8,000 TO 5,000 | Mesolithic (Meso-Indian) | Middle Stone Age. | Domestication of plants and animals. Earliest towns, wooden saws with rows of chipped flint for teeth. More advanced tools. |
| HOLOCENE | 5,000 to 2,500 | Neolithic (Archaic-Indian) | New or Late Stone Age | Polished stone tools, fired pottery, cultivated wheat and barley. Post-glacial rise in sea levels. |
| HOLOCENE | 5,000 to 2,500 | Chalcolithic | Copper-stone Age | In some areas only, particularly in Near East. Copper in use with stone. |
| HOLOCENE | 2,500 to 1,000 | Bronze Age | Alloy of tin with copper. Stronger, more adaptable metal. (Bronze was used in Thailand as early as 3,500 B.C.) | |
| HOLOCENE | 1,000 to Present | Iron Age | The Hittites had iron as early as 1,300 B.C. but Egypt did not until 7th century B.C. and China in 6th century B.C. |
Read also:
OpenStax, A comprehensive outline of world history. OpenStax CNX. Nov 30, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10595/1.3
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