Human Prehistoric Timeline

Last updated 01-23-2011 01-06-2011 02-12-11 03-03-2011  8-7-2011  12-26-2011

The Beginning of Earth Time

4.5 billion years ago: The beginning. Precambrian. The Precambrian accounts for 85% of geologic earth time.
3.9 to 4.1 billion years ago: Life (cyanobacteria) begins. End of the Hadean Eon and the beginning of the Archaean Eon.
2.5 billion years ago: End of the Archaean Eon and beginning of the Protoerozoic Eon.
2.3 billion years ago: The first known ice age.
1.8 to 2.1 billion years ago: First known eukaryotes (organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes).
750 million years ago: Beginning of “Snowball Earth” ice age
Time ???: Maybe 2.5 to maybe 6 million years ago, or somewhere in the middle, something happened and a few hominids started walking upright and thinking a little different then their progenitors, thus starting our rise to pre-dominance of the earth.

Geological Ages and Era

Precambrian–4.6 billion years ago (bya)
Hadean Eon 4.6–3.8 bya
Archean Eon 3.8–2.5 bya
Proterozoic Eon  2.5bya–570 million years ago (mya)

Phanerozoic Eon
Paleozoic Era
Cambrian Period
Ordovician Period
Silurian Period
Devonian Period
Carboniferous Period
Permian Period–Oil

Mesozoic Era
Triassic Period  Pangaea supercontinent
Jurassic Period  Dinosaurs
Cretaceous Period  Dinosaurs wiped out, K-T extinction event, 65.5mya

Cenozoic Era
Paleogene Period
Paleocene Epoch
Eocene Epoch
Oligocene Epoch

Neogene Period
Miocene Epoch
Pliocene Epoch
Pleistocene Epoch–Humans start out here
Holocene Epoch–Where we are now.

From Wikipedia Here

Archaeological ages

Paleolithic Introduction of stone tools 2.5+-mya
Lower
Middle
Upper

Mesolithic

Some notable Mesolithic sites:

• Lepenski Vir, Serbia — 7000 BC
• Star Carr, England and Star Carr house — 8700 BC
• Pulli settlement, Estonia — 9000 BC
• Franchthi cave, Greece — 20,000–300 BC
• Cramond, Scotland — 8500 BC
• Mount Sandel, Ireland — 7010 BC
• Howick house, England — 7000 BC
• Newbury, England
• Swifterbant culture, The Netherlands
• Aveline’s Hole, Somerset, England — 8000 BC
• Ngwenya Mine, Swaziland – 42,000 BC
• Nanzhuangtou bog, China – 8500-7700 BC
• Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, India
• Shigir Idol, Russia – 7500 BC

Neolithic Last of the Stone Age

Neolithic human settlements include:

• Tell Qaramel in Syria, 10,700–9400 BC
• Franchthi Cave in Greece, epipalaeolithic (c. 10,000 BC) settlement, reoccupied between 7500–6000 BC
• Lahuradewa in India, 9000 BC
• Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, c. 9000 BC
• Jericho in West bank, Neolithic from around 8350 BC, arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic Natufian culture
• Nevali Cori in Turkey, c. 8000 BC
• Ganj Dareh in Iran, c. 7000 BC

• Çatalhöyük in Turkey, 7500 BC
• Pengtoushan culture in China, 7500 – 6100 BC
• ‘Ain Ghazal in Jordan, 7250–5000 BC
• Chogha Bonut in Iran, 7200 BC
• Jhusi in India, 7100 BC
• Karanovo in Bulgaria, 6200 BC
• Petnica in Serbia, 6000 BC
• Sesklo in Greece, 6850 BC (with a ±660 year margin of error)
• Dispilio in Greece, c. 5500 BC
• Padah-Lin Caves in Myanmar, c. 6000 BC
• Jiahu in China, 7000 to 5800 BC
• Mehrgarh in Pakistan, 7000 BC
• Knossus on Crete, c. 7000 BC
• Porodin in Republic of Macedonia, 6500 BC^[32]
• Vrshnik (Anzabegovo) in Republic of Macedonia, 6500 BC^[32]
• Pizzo di Bodi (Varese), Lombardy in Italy, c. 6320 ±80 BC
• Sammardenchia in Friuli, Italy , c. 6050 ±90 BC,
• Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, 5500–2750 BC, in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania first salt works
• Tabon Cave Complex in Quezon, Palawan, Philippines 5000 – 2000 BC^{[citation needed]}
• Hemudu culture in China, 5000 – 4500 BC, large scale rice plantation
• around 2000 settlements of Trypillian culture, 5400 – 2800 BC
• The Megalithic Temples of Malta, 3600 BC
• Knap of Howar and Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland, from 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively
• Brú na Bóinne in Ireland, c. 3500 BC
• Lough Gur in Ireland from around 3000 BC
• Lajia in China, 2000 BC

Bronze Age (4000 to 1200 BC) Written history begins about  3500-3000 BC
Iron Age (1200 BC) West Africa, perhaps Armenian area also.  New evidence of Iron technology in India from about 1800 BC 02-12-11

From Wikipedia

Earlier than 200,000 BC

Homo ergaster: is an extinct species (or subspecies) of hominid that lived in eastern and southern Africa from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the early Pleistocene, about 1.8-1.3 million years ago. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H. ergaster, but it is now widely thought (though not agreed) to be the direct ancestor of later hominids such as Homo heidelbergensis, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis rather than Asian erectus. It is one of the earliest members of the genus Homo, possibly descended from, or sharing a common ancestor with, Homo habilis.

Homo heidelbergensis: (“Heidelberg Man”), is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominids date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H. heidelbergensis stone tool technology was very close  to that of the Acheulean tools used by Homo erectus.

Homo erectus: is an extinct species of hominid that originated in Africa—and spread as far as China and Java—from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene: about 1.8-.3 million years ago. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H. erectus, with two major alternative hypotheses: erectus may be another name for Homo ergaster, and therefore the direct ancestor of later hominids such as Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens; or it may be an Asian species distinct from African ergaster.
Originally migrated from Africa during the Early Pleistocene, possibly as a result of the operation of the Saharan pump, around 2.0 million years ago, and dispersed throughout much of the Old World. Fossilized remains 1.8 and 1.0 million years old have been found in Africa (e.g., Lake Turkanaand Olduvai Gorge), Europe (Georgia, Spain), Indonesia (e.g., Sangiran and Trinil), Vietnam, and China (e.g., Shaanxi).

Neanderthal: Also spelled Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies of humans (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate species (Homo neanderthalensis). The first proto-Neanderthal traits appeared in Europe as early as 600,000–350,000 years ago. Proto-Neanderthal traits are occasionally grouped to another phenetic ‘species’, Homo heidelbergensis, or a migrant form, Homo rhodesiensis. By 130,000 years ago, complete Neanderthal characteristics had appeared. These characteristics then disappeared in Asia by 50,000 +- years ago, and in Europe by 25,000 to 30,000 years ago.

Below added 01-23-2011
“A team of biologists has reported that in the first detailed genetic analysis of the Neanderthal genome, they have found evidence that Neanderthals mated with some modern humans and left their imprint in the human genome

The biologists were led by Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. By comparing the Neanderthal genome with those of various present day humans, the team concluded that about 1 percent to 4 percent of the genome of non-Africans today is derived from Neanderthals.”  From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/science/07neanderthal.html

Humans/Homo sapiens: are bipedal primates (Latin: “wise man” or “knowing man”) in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving members of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees the arms for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. Mitochondrial DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

Also see Homo habilis Here

500,000: The Peking Man Site,  excavations in the early1920’s revealed evidence of human habitation from 500,000 to perhaps 680,000 years ago. The cave was excavated from 1927-37 yielding 200 human fossils (from 40 individuals) Homo erectus, more than 10,000 pieces of stoneware, several cinder layers indicating fire use in early man, as well as animal fossils from 200 separate species.

200,000 BC: Humans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving members of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees the arms for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. Mitochondrial DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Evidence from archaeogenetics accumulating since the 1990s has lent strong support to the “out-of-Africa” scenario, and has marginalized the competing multi-regional hypothesis, which proposed that modern humans evolved, at least in part, from independent hominid populations.

75,000-72,000 BC
Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia is the location of the largest volcanic eruption in the history of the world.  Eruptions have occurred in 840,000 BC, 700,000 BC, and 75,000+- BC.  The 75,000 eruption ejected 2,800 Km3. of matter   Discovery of common stone tools at Jwakapuram in southern India were discovered above and below the ash deposited as a result of Toba.  Possibility that this volcano eruption drove down the population of the earth to about 10,000 humans…one of two bottle-necks in our prehistoric history.

From the Oxford Journal Molecular Biology and Evolution this article: “Population Bottlenecks and Pleistocene Human Evolution.” http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/1/2.full 03-03-2011

50,000 years ago: Around 50,000 years ago there was a marked increase in the diversity of human artifacts. For the first time in Africa, bone artifacts and art appear in the archeological record. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. Firstly among the artifacts of Africa, archeologists found they could differentiate and classify those of less than 50,000 years into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools.

These new stone-tool types have been described as being distinctly differentiated from each other, as if each tool had a specific purpose. 3,000 to 4,000 years later, this tool technology spread with people migrating to Europe. The new technology generated a population explosion of modern humans and possibly led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. The invaders, commonly referred to as the Cro-Magnons, left many sophisticated stone tools, cave art and Venus figurines wherever they went  Adapted from Wikipedia…03-03-2011

50,000–40,000 BC

• 50000 BC: start of the Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa
• 45000 BC; in Bryan Sykes’ The Seven Daughters of Eve, the ‘clan mother’ of Haplogroup U lives in Central Greece.
• 43,000–41,000 BC: At Ksar Akil in Lebanon, ornaments and skeletal remains of modern humans are dated to this period.
• 40,000+- BC: By this time migration out of Africa that started about 85,000 BC  had Modern Homo-sapiens spread all over Europe, the Middle East,Asia, Africa, and Australia
  
• 40,000+-BC: British scientist find footprints in an abandoned quarry in Central Mexico close to the Cerro Toluquilla volcano. A multinational team of scientists subsequently studied and dated the site.  Added 12-26-2011

40,000–30,000 BC

• 40,000–35,000 BC: Cro Magnon (Modern Homo-sapiens)  appear in Europe, early cultural center in the Swabian Alb, earliest figurative art (Venus of Schelklingen), beginning Aurignacian
• 35000 BC: Zar, Yataghyeri, Damjili and Taghlar caves.
• 32000 BC: Europeans understand how to harden clay figures by firing them in an oven at high temperatures.
• 30000 BC: Invention of the bow and arrow.
• 30000 BC: end of the Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa
• 30000 BC–26000 BC: Lion-Human, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany created. It is now in Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany.

30,000–20,000 BC

• 29,000–25,000 BC: Venus of Dolní Věstonice. It is the oldest known ceramic in the world. The Red Lady of Paviland lived around 29-26,000 years ago, recent evidence has come to light the he was a tribal Chieftan.
• 28,000 BC: People start to live in Japan.
• 25,000 BC-17,000 BC: Wall painting with horses, rhinoceroses and aurochs, Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, Ardéche gorge, France, is made. Discovered in December 1994.
• 24000 BC: start of the second Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa.
• 23000 BC: Venus of Petřkovice (Petřkovická venuše in Czech) from Petřkovice in Ostrava, Czech Republic, was made. It is now in Archeological Institute, Brno.
• 23000 BC: In The Seven Daughters of Eve, the ‘clan mother’ of Haplogroup X lives in the Caucasus Region of Southern Russia.
• 22000 BC: Neanderthals believed to have become extinct in Europe.
• 22000 BC: Last Glacial Maximum: Venus of Brassempouy, Grotte du Pape, Brassempouy, Landes, France, was made. It is now at Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St.-Germain-en-Laye.
• 22000 BC–21000 BC: Venus of Willendorf, Austria, was made. It is now at Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.
• 20000 BC: end of the second Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa.

20,000–15,000 BC

• 18000 BC-15000 BC: Last glacial period. Mean Sea Levels are believed to be 110 to 120 meters (361 to 394 ft) lower than present, with the direct implication that many coastal and lower riverine valley archaeological sites of interest are today under water.
• 18000 BC: In The Seven Daughters of Eve, the ‘clan mother’ of Haplogroup H lives in Southern France.
• 16500 BC: Paintings in Cosquer cave, where the cave mouth is now under water at Cap Margiou, France were made.
• 18000 BC: Spotted Horses, Pech Merle cave, Dordogne, France are painted. Discovered in December 1994.
• 18000 BC–11000 BC: Ibex-headed spear thrower, from Le Mas d’Azil, Ariege, France, is made. It is now at Musee de la Prehistoire, Le Mas d’Azil.
• 18000 BC–12000 BC: Mammoth-bone village in Mezhirich, Ukraine is inhabited.
  18000 BC —New evidence of pottery from Japan at this date. See Smithsonian Institute.17000 BC: Spotted human hands, Pech Merle cave, Dordogne, France are painted. Discovered in December 1994.
• 17000 BC–15000 BC: Hall of Bulls, Lascaux caves, is painted. Discovered in 1940. Closed to the public in 1963.
• 17000 BC–15000 BC: Bird-Headed man with bison and Rhinoceros, Lascaux caves, is painted.
• 17000 BC–15000 BC: Lamp with ibex design, from La Mouthe cave, Dordogne, France, is made. It is now at Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St.-Germain-en-Laye.
• 15000 BC: Bison, Le Tuc d’Audoubert, Ariege, France.
• 15000 BC In The Seven Daughters of Eve, the ‘clan mother of Haplogroup V lives in Northern Spain, while the ‘clan mother’ of Haplogroup T lives in the Tuscany region of Central Italy.

16,000–12,000 BC

• 15000 BC-12000 BC: Pregnant woman and deer (?), from Laugerie-Basse, France was made. It is now at Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St.-Germain-en-Laye.
• 14000 BC: Paleo-Indians searched for big game near what is now the Hovenweep National Monument.
• 14000 BC: Bison, on the ceiling of a cave at Altamira, Spain, is painted. Discovered in 1879. Accepted as authentic in 1902.
• 14000 BC: Domestication of Reindeer.
• 13000 BC In The Seven Daughters of Eve, the ‘clan mother of Haplogroup K lives in the Veneto Region of Northern Italy.
• 13000 BC: Beginning of the Holocene extinction event.
• 13000 BC: Ice Age ends in Japan.

12,000–11,000 BC

• 12000 BC: The American Southwest has long been occupied by hunter/gatherers and agricultural people. This area, identified with the current states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada, and areas of northern Mexico, has seen successive prehistoric cultural traditions since approximately 12,000 years ago.  It is likely that both ceramic and irrigation technology were indigenous developments of these cultures. In central Mexico corn/maize was being developed from wild strains of grasses.
• 11500 BC: Oldest temple complex of the world (Göbekli Tepe in Turkey)
• 11500 BC–10000 BC: Wooden buildings in South America (Chile)
• 11000 BC— First pottery vessels (Japan-Jomon culture) NEW 3-16-10 New evidence of pottery in Japan as far back as 18,000 BCE. From Smithsonian Institute
• 11000 BC: First evidence of human settlement in Argentina.
• 11000 BC: The Arlington Springs Man dies on the island of Santa Rosa, off the coast of California.
• 11000 BC: Human remains deposited in caves which are now located off the coast of Yucatan

10,000 BC

• 10,000 BC: – First cave drawings are made, with war and religious scenes, beginnings of what become storytelling, and morphed into acting.
• 10,000 BC: – Bottle Gourd is domesticated and used as a carrying vessel.
• 10,000 BC: – end of the most recent glaciation.
• 9,500 BC: – There is evidence of harvesting, though not necessarily cultivation, of wild grasses in Asia Minor
• 9,500 BC: – First building phase of the temple complex at Göbekli Tepe.
• 9,300 BC: – Figs were apparently cultivated in the Jordan River valley.
• 9000 BC: – Neolithic culture began in Ancient Near East.
• 9000 BC: Near East: – First stone structures at Jericho are built.

Old World 10000 BC

• Asia: Cave sites near the Caspian Sea are used for human habitation.
• Europe: Azilian (Painted Pebble Culture) people occupy Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Scotland.
• Europe: Magdalenian culture flourishes and creates cave paintings in France.
• Europe: Horse hunting begins at Solutré.
• Egypt: Early sickle blades & grinding disappear and are replaced by hunting, fishing and gathering peoples who use stone tools.
• Japan: The Jōmon people use pottery, fish, and hunt and gather acorns, nuts and edible seeds. There are 10,000 known sites.
• Mesopotamia: Three or more linguistic groups, including Sumerian and Semitic peoples share a common political and cultural way of life.
• Mesopotamia: People begin to collect wild wheat and barley probably to make malt then beer.
• Norway: First traces of population in Randaberg.
• Persia: The goat is domesticated.
• Sahara: Bubalus Period.

Americas 10000 BC

• North America: Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer societies live nomadically in the countryside.
• North America: Blackwater Draw forms in eastern New Mexico, evincing human activity.
• North America: Folsom people flourish throughout the Southwestern United States.
• North America: Settlement at the Nanu site in the Queen Charlotte Islands of modern day British Columbia begins, starting the longest continual occupation in territory now belonging to Canada.

From the Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures: Wikipedia

• Central and East Europe:
  • 30000 BC: Szeletian culture
  • 20000 BC: Pavlovian, Aurignacian cultures
  • 11000 BC: Ahrensburg culture
  • 10000 BC: Epigravettian culture
  • 9000 BC: Gravettian culture
• North and West Africa, and Sahara:
  • 30000 BC: Aterian culture
  • 10000 BC: Ibero-Maurusian (a.k.a. Oranian, Ouchtatian), and Sebilian cultures
  • 8000 BC: Capsian culture
• Central, South, and East Africa:
  • 50000 BC: Fauresmithian culture
  • 30000 BC: Stillbayan culture
  • 10000 BC: Lupembian culture
  • 9000 BC: Magosian culture
  • 7000 BC: Wiltonian culture
  • 3000 BC: beginning of hunter-gatherer art in southern Africa
• West Asia (including Middle East):
  • 50000 BC: Jabroudian culture
  • 40000 BC: Amoudian culture
  • 30000 BC: Emirian culture
  • 20000 BC: Aurignacian culture
  • 10000 BC: Kebarian, Athlitian cultures
• South, Central and Northern Asia:
  • 30000 BC: Angara culture
  • 9000 BC: Khandivili culture
• East and Southeast Asia:
  • 80000 BC: Ordos culture
  • 50000 BC: Ngandong culture
  • 30000 BC: Sen-Doki culture
  • 14000 BC: Jōmon period starts in Ancient Japan.
  • 10000 BC: pre-Jōmon ceramic culture
  • 8000 BC: Hoabinhian culture
  • 7000 BC: Jōmon culture

9000 to 8000 BC

• 9000 BC—Mediterranean—Settling on Mediterranean isles started.
• 9000 BC—Laacher See, northwest of Frankfurt, formed when a volcano blows out to form a caldera
• 9000 BC—Neolithic culture begins in Ancient Near East
• 8700–8400 BC—Britain—Star Carr site in Yorkshire, Britain inhabited by Maglemosian peoples
• 8500 BC—Great Britain—Mesolithic hunters camp at Cramond, Prehistoric Scotland
• 8500 BC–7370 BC; Jericho established with 2000 inhabitants living in mud-brick houses covering 6 acres (24,000 m²) and protected by the Wall of Jericho
• 8300 BC: Great Britian Nomadic hunters arrive in England
• 8000 BC—Norway—Øvre Eiker of Norway inhabited
• 8000 BC—Estonia—Pulli settlement inhabited

Inventions and discoveries

• 9000 BC—The first evidence of the keeping of sheep, in northern Iraq.
• 8500 BC—Natufian culture of Western Mesopotamia is harvesting wild wheat with flint-edged sickles. (1967 McEvedy) About this time, boats are invented, and dogs domesticated in Europe. (1967 McEvedy)
• 8500 BC—Andean peoples domesticate chili peppers and two kinds of bean.
• 8000 BC—Mesopotamia—Agriculture in Mesopotamia
• 8000 BC—Asia—Domestication of the pig in China and Turkey
• 8000 BC—Middle East—Domestication of goats
• 8000 BC—Asia—Evidence of domestication of dogs from wolves, new find in Russia of domesticated dogs dated 12,000 BC
• 8000 BC—Middle East—Ancient flint tools from north and central Arabia belong to hunter-gatherer societies
• 8000 BC—Middle East—Clay vessels and modeled human and animal terracotta figurines are produced at Ganj Dareh in western Iran.
• 8000 BC—Exchange of goods, a three-dimensional combination of an accounting/inventory system and medium of exchange.
• 8000 BC—Exchange of goods may represent the earliest pseudo-writing technology.
• 8000 BC—People of Jericho were making bricks out of clay, then hardened them in the sun. The settlement had grown to 8–10 acres of houses and had substantial walls.

Misc. Stuff

• 9000 BC: Temporary global chilling, as the Gulf Stream pulls southward, and Europe ices over
• 8000 BC—World—Rising Sea
• 8000 BC—Antarctica—long-term melting of the Antarctic ice sheets is commencing
• 8000 BC—Asia—rising sea levels caused by postglacial warming
• 8000 BC—World—Obliteration of more than 40 million animals about this time
• 8000 BC—North America—The glaciers were receding and by 8,000 B.C. the Wisconsin had withdrawn completely.
• 8000 BC—World—Inland flooding due to catastrophic glacier melt takes place in several regions.
• 8000 BC—Glaciers form the rock formation in present-day New Hampshire, USA formerly known as the “Old Man of the Mountain.”
• 7911 BC—Series of seven massive volcanic eruptions give volcanic skies and lowered temperatures for several centuries (ending 7090 BC). Locations not known, but show in polar ice. (NatGeo1986–9)
• 7500 BC–The worlds oldest tree (so far) was found in Sweden.  A spruce that first took root about 9500 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. (2008)  added 2-6-201
• 7640 BC—Date theorized for impact of Tollmann’s hypothetical bolide with Earth and associated global cataclysm.
• 7220 BC—Eruption of Mount Edgecumbe, Alaska.
• 7000 BC—Wild horse populations drop in Europe proper; horse disappears from the island of Great Britain, but was never found in Ireland. (Horse & Man, Clutton-Brock) Extinction probably caused by climatic shift, leading to excessively rich spring feed and mass lameness from founder, making them easy prey (Bolich & Ingraham)
• 7000 BC—English Channel formed^.
• 7000 BC—Neolithic Subpluvial begins in northern Africa
• 6440 BC ± 25 years—Kurile volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has VEI 7 eruption. It is one of the largest of the Holocene epoch
• 6250 BC – Eruptions occur in the Indian Heaven Volcanic field located in central Washington State.
• 6100 BC—The Storegga Slide, causing a mega tsunami in the Norwegian Sea
• 6000 BC—Rising sea levels form the Torres Strait, separating Australia from New Guinea.
• 5000 BC: Rice is cultivated in Southeast Asia. Later it is introduced in Ganges Valley
• 5000 BC: Farming reaches Atlantic coast of Europe from Ancient Near East
• 5000 BC: Maize is cultivated in Mexico
• 5000 BC: Writing systems, such as ideographic Vinca script, Tartaria tablets
• 5000: Metallurgy appears.
• 5000 BC: Agriculture starts in Ancient Japan. Beans and gourds are cultivated.
• 4500 BC: Plough is introduced in Europe (c. 4500 BC)
• 4000 BC: Copper pins dating to 4000 BC found in Egypt.
• 4000 BC: Water Buffalo are domesticated in China
• 4000 BC: Beer brewing is developed.
• 4000 BC: Wheel is developed in Mesopotamia and India
• 4000 BC: Potter’s wheel in Sumer.
• 4000 BC: Susa, in Persia is a center of pottery production.
• 4000 BC: Horses are domesticated in Ukraine.
• 3500 BC–2340 BC: Sumer: wheeled carts, potter’s wheel, White Temple ziggurat, bronze tools and weapons.
• 3250 BC: Potter’s wheel appears in Ancient Near East.
• 3500 BC: The Plough is invented in the Near East.
• 3000 BC: Tin is in use in Mesopotamia soon after this time.

8000 to 2500 BC

• 8000 BC: Ice Age ends.
• 8000 BC: Upper Paleolithic period ends.
• 8000 BC: 7000 BC—Paleolithic–Neolithic overlap (Mesolithic).
• 8000 BC—2300 BC: Neolithic period.
• 8000 BC: Settlement in Franchthi Cave in Peloponnese, Greece, continues. First evidence of seed and animal stocking (lentils, almonds) and obsidian trade with Melos. The settlement was continuously occupied since 20,000 BC and abandoned in 3,000 BC.
• 8000 BC: Settlements at Nevali Cori in present-day Turkey are established.
• 8000 BC: Settlements at Sagalassos in present-day southwest Turkey are established.
• 8000 BC: Settlements at Akure in present-day southwest Nigeria are established.
• 8000 BC: Settlements at Øvre Eiker and Nedre Eiker in present-day Buskerud, Norway are established.
• 8000 BC: Settlements at Ærø, Denmark are established.
• 8000 BC: Settlements at Deepcar near present-day Sheffield, England are established.
• 8000 BC: North American Arctic is inhabited by hunter-gatherers of the Paleo-Arctic Tradition.
• 8000 BC: Pre-Anasazi Paleo-Indians move into the Southwest United States.
• 8000 BC: Plano cultures inhabit the Great Plains area of North America (from 9th millennium)
• 8000 BC: World population: 5,000,000
• 7500 BC: Settlements at Sand, Applecross on the coast of Wester Ross, Scotland are constructed.
• 7500 BC: Çatalhöyük, a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, is founded.
• 7500 BC: Cattle Period begins in the Sahara.
• 7500 BC: Mesolithic hunter-gatherers are the first humans to reach Ireland.
• 7370 BC: End of the large settlement at Jericho.
• 7200–5000 BC: Ain Ghazal, Jordan is inhabited. 30 acres (120,000 m²).
• 7000 BC: First Neolithic settlements with ceramics, in St. Croix, Caribbean Sea.
• 7000 BC: Beginning of the Peiligang culture in China.
• 7000 BC: Agriculture and Neolithic settlement at Mehrgarh, in current-day Baluchistan, Pakistan.
• 7000 BC: Agriculture among the Papuan peoples of New Guinea
• 7000 BC—600 BC: Elam.
• 7000 BC: Elam becomes farming region.
• 7000 BC–6000 BC: Figure from Ain Ghazal, Jordan, was made. It is now in National Museum, Amman, Jordan.
• 6850–4800 BC: Advanced agriculture and a very early use of pottery by the Sesclo culture in Thessaly, Greece.
• 6500 BC: Paleolithic period ended. Neolithic period started in China.
• 6500 BC: Beginning of the Houli culture in China.
• 6500 BC–5500 BC: Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Inhabitants traded obsidian.
• 6200 BC: Beginning of the Xinglongwa culture in China.
• 6000 BC: Beginning of the Cishan culture in China.
• 6000 BC: First traces of habitation of the Svarthola cave in Norway.
• 6000 BC: The Mehrgarh culture reaches its height c. 6000 BC. The Mehrgarh site is one of the most important Neolithic sites in the world. It is located in present-day Pakistan (Baluchistan Province).
• 6000 BC: The entire 6th Millennium was a part of the Holocene climatic optimum (so were the 4th, 5th, and 7th Millennia). This was a warm period also known as the Atlantic period. This period was characterized by minimal glaciation and high sea levels.
• 6000 BC: The Copper Age comes to the Fertile Crescent.  First use of copperin Middle East.
• 6000 BC: Fully Neolithic agriculture has spread through Anatolia to the Balkans.
• 6000 BC: Beginning of Neolithic Yangshao culture in south-central China<t.1500 BC>. Somewhere in this expanse of time, they invent the earliest pictographs of Chinese writing.
• 6000 BC: Equids disappear from the Americas.
• 6000 BC: Jungle fowl kept in India.
• 6000 BC: Female figurines holding serpents are fashioned on Crete and may have been associated with water, regenerative power and protection of the home.
• 5900 BC: Prehistoric Vinca culture emerges on the shores of lower Danube
• 5800 BC: Beginning of the Dadiwan culture in China.
• 5800 BC: The Hosanna Period in Mesopotamia <t. 5500 BC>, with the earliest version of stamp seals.
• 5760 BC: The volcano Puy-de-Dôme in France erupts.
• 5677 BC: Cataclysmic volcanic explosion of 12,000-foot (3,700 m) high Mount Mazama creates Oregon’s Crater Lake when the resulting caldera fills with water. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, it remains the largest single Holocene eruption in history of the Cascade Range.
• 5600 BC: Beginning of the desertification of North Africa, which ultimately lead to the creation of the Sahara desert.  It’s possible this process pushed some natives into migrating to the region of the Nile in the east, thereby laying the groundwork for the rise of Egyptian civilization.
• 5600 BC: The Red Paint people become established in the region from present-day Labrador to New York.
• 5509 BC: The Byzantine calendar dates creation to 1 September of this year.
• 5500 BC: Beginning of the Xinle culture in China.
• 5500 BC: Agriculture started in Ancient Egypt.
• 5500 BC: Predynastic period (Neolithic) starts in Ancient Egypt (other date is 4350 BC).
• 5450 BC: Volcano Hekla eruption.
• 5400 BC: Beginning of the Zhaobaogou culture in China.
• 5400 BC: Irrigation and the beginning of the Sumerian civilization in Southern Iraq.
• 5400 BC/3400 BC: ?? Watson Brake mound complex constructed in present-day Louisiana.
• 5300 BC: Beginning of the Beixin culture in China.
• 5200 BC: Beginning of human inhabitation and settlements in Malta.
• 5000 BC: Beginning of the Hemudu culture in China.
• 5000 BC: Beginning of the Daxi culture in China.
• 5000 BC: Beginning of the Majiabang culture in China.
• 5000 BC: Beginning of the Yangshao culture in China.
• 5000 BC: Farming reached central and North Europe.

• 6000 BC: Cycladic people started to use a coarse, poor-quality local clay to make a variety of objects.
• 6000 BC: Brick building was taking place at Çatalhöyük, Turkey.
• 6000 BC: Agriculture appears in the valley of the Nile.
• 6000 BC: Rice cultivated in Asia.
• 6000 BC: Plough invented.
• 6000–5000 BC: Wine is created for the first time in Persia.
• 5000 BC: Agriculture began in the Americas perhaps this early, in complete isolation from the Old World.
• 5700 BC: Samarran Culture at Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) begins (c. 5700–4900 BC C-14, 6640–5816 BC cal BC).
• 5500 BC: pottery at Mehrgarh in current-day Baluchistan, Pakistan.
• 5508 BC: Year of Creation that is adopted in 7th century Constantinople, and used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and secularly in Russia until early in the 18th century AD
• 5490 BC: Year of Creation as reckoned by early Syrian Christians.
• 5100 BC: Temples founded in South Mesopotamia.

• 5000–4500 BC: Għar Dalam phase of Neolithic farmers on Malta, possibly immigrant farmers from the Agrigento region of Sicily.
• 5000–4000 BC: Bowl, from Banpo, near Xi’an, Shaanxi, is made. Neolithic period. Yangshao culture. It is now kept at Banpo Museum.
• 5000–2000 BC: Neolithic period in China.
• 4900–4600 BC: Arrangements of circular ditches are built in Central Europe.
• 4800 BC: Dimini culture replaces the Sesklo culture in Thessaly (4800–4000 BC)
• 4500 BC: Settlement of Chirokitia dates from this period.
• 4500 BC: Ending of Neolithic IA (the Aceramic) in Cyprus4350 BC: Kikai Caldera forms in a massive VEI7 eruption.
• 4300 BC: Theta Boötis became the nearest visible star to the celestial  North Pole. It remained the closest until 3942 BC when it was replaced by Thuban.
• 4250–3750 BC: Menhir alignments at Menec, Carnac, France are made.
• 4200 BC: Date of Mesolithic examples of Naalebinding found in Denmark, marking spread of technology to Northern Europe.
• 4100–3500 BC: New wave of immigration to Malta from Sicily leads to the Żebbuġ and Mġarr phases, and to the Ġgantija phase of temple builders.4004 BC: God creates our world and Adam and Eve J
• 4000 BC: Mesopotamia is in the Uruk period, with emerging Sumerian hegemony and development of “proto-cuneiform” writing; Base-60 mathematics, astronomy and astrology, civil law, complex hydrology, the sailboat, potter’s wheel and wheel; the Chalcolithic proceeds into the Early Bronze Age.
• 4000 BC: First Neolithic settlers in the island of Thera (Santorini), Greece, migrating probably from Minoan Crete.
• 4000 BC: Beaker from Susa (modern Shush, Iran) is made. It is now at Musee du Louvre, Paris.
• 4000–2000 BC: People and animals, a detail of rock-shelter painting in Cogul, Lerida, Catalonia, are painted. It is now at Museo Arqueologico, Barcelona.
• 4004 BC: If you follow Ussher’s Chronology the world began on October 23 in this year
• 4000 BC: Babylonian influence predominant in Mediterranean regions of Asia (to 2000 BC)
• 3760 BC: Year of Creation as reckoned in the Hebrew calendar that will be used from the 15th century AD
• 3641 BC: February 10, 3641 Year of Creation as reckoned by the Mayan calendars in the Western hemisphere.
• 3600 BC: first rupestrian art Chiribiquete (Caquetá). In Colombia,
• 3600 BC: Construction of the Ġgantija megalithic temple complex on the Island of Gozo, 3600 BC: Malta  the world’s oldest extant free-standing structures, and the world’s oldest religious structures. (Dubious: see Göbekli Tepe)
• 3600–3200 BC: Construction of the first temple within the Mnajdra solar temple complex on Malta, containing “furniture” such as stone benches and tables, which set it apart from other European megalith constructions.
• 3600–3000 BC: Construction of the Ta’ Ħaġrat and Kordin III temples on Malta.
• 3500 BC: Figures of a man and a woman, from Cernavoda, Romania are made. They are now at National Historical Museum, Bucharest.
• 3500–3400 BC: Jar with boat designs, from Hierakonpolis (today in the Brooklyn Museum) is created. Predynastic Egypt.
• 3500–2340 BC: First cities developed in Southern Mesopotamia. Inhabitants migrated from north.
• 3372 BC: First date in Mayan chronology
• 3300–2900 BC: Construction of the Newgrange solar observatory/passage tomb in Ireland.
• 3300 BC: Ötzi the Iceman dies near the present-day border between Austria and Italy, only to be discovered in 1991 buried in a glacier of the Ötztal Alps. His cause of death is believed to be homicide
• 3250–3000 BC: Construction of three megalithic temples at Tarxien, Malta.
• 3200–2500 BC: Construction of the Ħaġar Qim megalithic temple complex on Malta, featuring both solar and lunar alignments.
• 3150 BC: Predynastic period ended in Ancient Egypt. Early Dynastic (Archaic) period started (according to French Egyptologist Nicolas Grimal. The period includes 1st and 2nd Dynasties.
• 3150 BC: a lesser Tollmann’s hypothetical bolide event may have occurred.
• August 11, 3114 BC: Gregorian calendar reference starting date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by the ancient Maya civilization.
• February 18, 3102 BC: Beginning of the Kali yuga era. Starting date of the Hindu calendar’s last epoch.
• 3100 BC: According to the legend, Menes unifies Upper and Lower Egypt, and a new capital is erected at Memphis.
• 3100 BC: Narmer Palette
• 3100–2600 BC: Neolithic settlement at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, is inhabited.
• 3079 BC: Ancient Vietnamese nation of Văn Lang is established by the first Hùng Vương.
• 3100 BC: First to Fourth dynasty of Kish in Mesopotamia.
• 3100 BC: Discovery of silver.
• 3100 BC: The beginnings of Iberian civilizations, arrival to the peninsula dating as far back as 4000 BC.
• 3044 BC: If you follow Ussher’s  Biblical Chronology…Adam died about this time
• 3000 BC: First pottery in Colombia at Puerto Hormiga (Magdalena), considered one of the first attempts of pottery of the New World First settlement at Puerto Badel (Bolivar).
• 3000 BC: Sumerian temple of Janna at Eridu erected.
• 3000 BC: Temple at Al-Ubaid and tome of Mes-Kalam-Dug built near Ur, Chaldea.
• 2500 BC: Harappan civilization, at its peak, covered an area of around 480,000 km². Its heartland lay in the Indus river valley in Pakistan, but settlements spread as far as the Makran coast, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, eastern Punjab, Kutch and Saurashtra. They included cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Kalibangan, Dholavira, ports like Lothal, Sutkagen-dor and Sotka-koh and numerous villages as well. They used irrigation to farm and constructed cities. The two main cities had sewage systems, bronze, trade tokens (early coins), and hieroglyphs. There were even baths at one of the villages, besides the great baths of brick in each city. Geometry of shrines and altars tends to identify these with the cities of the Yajur Veda: they might easily be a thousand years older than this conservative date.   Adapted from Wikipedia.

Neolithic (10,000+- BC to 3500+- BC) human settlements include:

• Tabon Cave Complex in Quezon, Palawan, Philippines 5000 – 2000 BC
• Spirit Cave in Thailand, 9000 – 5500 BCE
• Padah-Lin Caves in Myanmar, ca 11000 BCE
• Franchthi Cave in Greece, epipalaeolithic (ca. 10000 BCE) settlement, reoccupied between 7500–6000 BC
• Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, ca. 9000 BCE
• Jericho in West bank, Neolithic from around 8350 BCE, arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic Natufian culture
• Nevali Cori in Turkey, ca. 8000 BCE
• Ganj Dareh in Iran, ca. 7000 BCE
• Çatalhöyük in Turkey, 7500 BCE
• Pengtoushan culture in China, 7500 – 6100 BCE
• ‘Ain Ghazal in Jordan, 7250–5000 BCE
• Jhusi in India, 7100 BCE
• Karanovo in Bulgaria, 6200 BCE
• Petnica in Serbia,6000 BCE
• Sesklo in Greece, 6850 BCE (with a ±660 year margin of error)
• Dispilio in Greece, ca. 5500 BCE
• Jiahu in China, 7000 to 5800 BCE
• Mehrgarh in Pakistan, 7000 BCE
• Knossus on Crete, ca. 7000 BCE
• Lahuradewa in India, 9000 BCE
• Porodin in Republic of Macedonia, 6500 BCE
• Vrshnik (Anzabegovo) in Republic of Macedonia, 6500 BCE
• Pizzo di Bodi (Varese), Lombardy in Italy, ca 6320 ±80 BCE
• Sammardenchia in Friuli, Italy , ca 6050 ±90 BCE,
• Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, 5500 – 2750 BCE, in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania first salt works
• Hemudu culture in China, 5000 – 4500 BCE, large scale rice plantation
• around 2000 settlements of Trypillian culture, 5400 – 2800 BCE
• The Megalithic Temples of Malta, 3600 BCE
• Knap of Howar and Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland, from 3500 BCE and 3100 BCE respectively
• Brú na Bóinne in Ireland, ca. 3500 BCE
• Lough Gur in Ireland from around 3000 BCE
• Lajia in China, 2000 BCE

Ancient Cities

TIME	POPULATION	CITY	PRESENT COUNTRY
8000-7000 BC	1000-2000	Jericho	West Bank
7500-6500 BC	5000-10000	Çatalhöyük	Turkey
4000 BC	4000	Eridu	Iraq
3800-3700 BC	< 10000	Dobrovody	Ukraine
3700 BC	6000-10000	Eridu	Iraq
3500 BC	14000	Uruk	Iraq
3300 BC	40000	Uruk	Iraq
2800 BC	80000	Uruk	Iraq
2500 BC	60000	Lagash	Iraq
2400 BC	40000	Mohenjo-daro	Pakistan
2100 BC	100,000	Ur	Iraq

Adapted from:
George Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 0-9676230-1-4.

Stone Age: From the beginning…till roughly 4000 BC
Bronze Age: From roughly 4000 BC…till roughly 1200 BC
Iron Age: From roughly 1200 BC…till present

Note that these ages vary from country to country.  Above ages are from the cradle of civilization…middle east, Africa, some parts of the Mediterranean, Turkey.  These areas are considered the earliest users of Bronze and Iron.

Milestones in Human Evolution

By 6 +- million years ago:
Early proto humans had evolved upright posture and the ability to walk upright on short legs. Male canine teeth were about equal in size to females’, which indicates a significant shift in social life.

By 4.1 +- million years ago:
Broad knee joints indicate clear adaptation to regular bipedal walking.

By 3.6 +- million years ago:
Oldest definite early human footprint trails, with footprints of other animals and environmental evidence.

By 2.6 +- million years ago:
Early humans made basic tools and ate meat obtained from large animals.

By 2.5 +- million years ago:
Clear evidence of a double-curved spine, which indicates a shock-absorbing system associated with bipedal walking.

By 1.9 +- million years ago:
Robust hip bone and lengthened thigh bone indicate that human ancestors could walk farther, faster and more easily.

By 1.8 +- million years ago:
Early humans dispersed from Africa to Asia.

By 1.6 +- million years ago:
First major technological innovation. Hand axes are made. Hand-axe technology persists for more than 1.2 million years.

By 800,000 +- years ago:
Early humans had control of fire and created hearths.

At 800,000 +- years ago:
Beginning of the most rapid increase in early human brain size (relative to body size). The fastest pace of brain enlargement took place between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago.

By 500,000 +- years ago:
Evidence of brain enlargement implies considerably prolonged maturation of the young. Early humans hunted large animals.

By 400,000 +- years ago:
Early humans made shelters. Early humans invented wooden thrusting spears.

250,000 +- years ago:
Early humans began to communicate with symbols—with evidence of the oldest known “crayons” (faceted sticks and chunks of pigment).

200,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved in Africa; they gathered and hunted food, like earlier human species. The date of 200,000 years is based on the oldest known H. sapiens crania and the estimated age of convergence (back in time) of all the mitochondrial DNA diversity recorded in living human populations. Three species of early humans overlapped in time with H. sapiens. The other three species became extinct between about 70,000 and 17,000 years ago.

By 164,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans collected and cooked shellfish.

By 160,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans had evolved prolonged periods of childhood growth, as found in people today.

Between 135,000-100,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans temporarily spread beyond Africa. Modern humans made shell beads, the oldest known jewelry.

By 130,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans exchanged resources over long distances.

By 104,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans became capable of capturing fast and dangerous prey.

By 100,000 +- years ago:
Earliest recorded purposeful burial.

Between 100,000-32,000 +- years ago:
Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) created rare carved plaques and pendants.

By 90,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans made special tools for fishing.

By 77,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans recorded information on objects. Modern humans became capable of making clothing by perforating hide.

About 74,000 +- years ago:  (Mt. Toba eruption probable cause)
Near-extinction of H. sapiens. Greatly reduced population, with numbers estimated at about 10,000 adults of reproductive age to as few as 600. Timing correlates with repeated, large-scale droughts in portions of Africa.

By 70,000 +- years ago:
Homo erectus became extinct.

By 60,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans began a series of permanent worldwide migrations.

By 60,000–40,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans created permanent drawings.

By 50,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans reached Australia.

By 50,000-30,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans reached the Philippines

By 40,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans reached Europe.

By 40,000-35,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans created paintings and figurines.

By 35,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans created musical instruments.

By 30,000–24,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans became capable of making well-fitted clothing using bone needles.

By 28,000 +- years ago:
Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) became extinct.

By 26,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans made baskets.

Somewhere in this time zone humans learned to make pottery…probably in China. Very significant for humans.

By 17,000 +- years ago:
H. floresiensis became extinct, leaving modern humans (H. sapiens) as the sole survivors of the once diverse human evolutionary tree.

By 15,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans reached the Americas (by at least this date, possibly earlier).

Beginning 12,000 +- years ago:
Humans become a “turning point” in the history of life as they control the growth and breeding of certain plants and animals. Farming and herding ensue, which transformed natural landscapes—first locally, then globally. Food production led to settlement (villages, towns, cities) and population growth.

By 10,500+- years ago:
First domestication of plants and animals.

By 8,000 +- years ago:
Modern humans use symbols to represent words and concepts.  Copper   “Traces of metalworking appear as early as 8000 B.C., when people simply cold-hammered native copper. Later, beginning about 6500 B.C., metalworkers improved the hardness of copper by annealing it — heating and then hammering and shaping it. True copper metallurgy began about 5500 B.C., when metalworkers started to smelt (or heat) copper ores to obtain the usable copper. Over the next several thousand years, craftsmen became skillful in the use of other metals, including bronze and gold.” Western Civilization: Origins and Traditions

Between 1959 and 1999:

Human population doubled from 3 billion to 6 billion people in just 40 years.

By 1995:
At least 83 percent of Earth’s land surface had been directly affected by humans.

By 2007:
More humans live in cities than in rural areas.

By 2009/2010:
First evidence of possible Homo-sapiens / Homo-neanderthalis interbreeding. Europe and Asia

In 2012:
Human population is expected to reach about 7 billion.

.

Old World

• Prehistoric Africa
  • Predynastic Egypt
  • Prehistoric Central North Africa
• Prehistoric Asia
  • East Asia:
    • Prehistoric China
    • Prehistoric Thailand
    • Prehistoric Korea
    • Japanese Paleolithic
    • East Asian Bronze Age
    • Chinese Bronze Age
  • South Asia
    • Prehistory of India
    • South Asian Stone Age
    • Prehistory of Sri Lanka
  • Prehistory of Central Asia
  • Prehistoric Siberia
  • Southwest Asia (Near East)
    • Prehistory of Iran
    • Aurignacian
    • Natufian culture
    • Ubaid period
    • Uruk period
    • Ancient Near East
• Prehistoric Europe
  • Prehistoric Caucasus
    • Prehistoric Georgia
    • Prehistoric Armenia
  • Paleolithic Europe
  • Neolithic Europe
  • Bronze Age Europe
  • Iron Age Europe
  • Atlantic fringe
    • Prehistoric Britain
    • Prehistoric Ireland
    • Prehistoric Iberia
  • Prehistoric Balkans

New World

• Pre-Columbian Americas
  • Prehistoric Southwestern Cultural Divisions
  • 2nd millennium BC in North American history
  • 1st millennium BC in North American history
  • 1st millennium in North American history
• Prehistoric Australia

Some age dating information:

When scientists began systematically dating meteorites they learned a very interesting thing: nearly all of the meteorites had practically identical ages, at 4.56 billion years. These meteorites are chips off the asteroids.

Virtual Dating—a very helpful educational course on half-lives and radioactive decay was put together by Gary Novak at California State University in Los Angeles. This site has several interactive web “workbooks” to help the reader understand various concepts involved with radiometric dating.
http://vcourseware5.calstatela.edu/VirtualDating

Reasons to Believe—a Christian ministry supporting the old-Earth viewpoint. Dr. Hugh Ross, the founder and head of the ministry, holds a PhD in Astronomy. The ministry supports an accurate interpretation of
the Bible while also supportive of science as a tool to study God’s creation.
http://www.reasons.org

American Scientific Affiliation (ASA)—an umbrella organization of Christians in many different areas of the sciences. Most of the members hold an old-Earth view, though membership is open to anyone supporting their positional statement. This website has numerous resources on theology and Bible-science issues.
http://www.asa3.org

Affiliation of Christian Geologists (ACG)—an organization of Geologists who are Christians. The ACG is affiliated with the ASA (above).
http://www.wheaton.edu/acg

Lord I Believe—a site maintained by Hill Roberts, a self-professed conservative Christian and a Physicist. There is a wealth of information, including presentations on the interpretation of Genesis chapters 1-3, a resource list of apologetics ministries, etc.
http://LordIBelieve.org

Faith and Reason Ministries. The ministry webpage of John D. Calahan, a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist.
http://www.faithreason.org

A review of Phillip Henry Gosse’s Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot, in which fiat creation with the appearance of age is suggested. Reviewed by Rev. John W. Burgeson.
http://www.burgy.50megs.com/omphalos.htm

Origins—this site is devoted mainly to evidences for intelligent design in nature.
http://www.origins.com

Talk Origins—an archive dedicated to creation-evolution issues. Originally created by Chris Stassen, this site is supported by the National Center For Science Education.
http://www.talkorigins.org

A Radiometric Dating Resource List—a very comprehensive resource list for radiometric dating, maintained by Tim Thompson of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It includes separate resource sections on the reliability of radiometric dating, introductory articles, advanced articles, radiocarbon
dating, etc.
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/8851/radiometric.html

C-14 Dating—The radiocarbon laboratories at Oxford (England) and Waikato (New Zealand) Universities jointly operate this website which gives very comprehensive information on radiocarbon dating. Portions of it were written specifically for use by K-12 students, so it is easy to understand. The site contains explanations on measurements, applications, calibration, publications, and other areas.
http://www.c14dating.com

Cornell University Geology 656 Lecture Notes—A large number of pdf files of geology lecture notes are available on the web. These are university-level lecture notes describing radiometric dating and related topics.
http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/Geo656/656notes98.html
http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/Geo656/656notes00.html

Books
Radiometric dating textbooks: The following books are popular college-level Geology texts that deal in depth with various dating techniques. Geologic Time is very easy to read and has been around for quite some time. The text by Dalrymple is meant to be relatively easy to read, but is also very comprehensive.
The Faure and Dickin texts are regular textbooks for Geology, including more mathematics and more details.
Dickin, Alan P. (1995) Radiogenic Isotope Geology. Cambridge University Press, 490 pp.

Dalrymple, G. Brent (1991) The Age of the Earth. Stanford University Press, 474 pp.

Faure, Gunter (1991) Principles and Applications of Inorganic Geochemistry: A Comprehensive Textbook for Geology Students. MacMillan Pub. Co., New York, 626 pp.

Faure, Gunter (1986) Principles of Isotope Geology, 2nd edition. Wiley, New York, 464 pp.
Eicher, Don L. (1976) Geologic Time, 2nd edition. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 150 pp.

Other books on dating:
Jespersen, James, and Jane Fitz-Randolph (1996) Mummies, Dinosaurs, Moon Rocks: How We Know How Old Things Are. Atheneum Books, New York, 92 pp. This is a book designed for easy reading on the general subject of dating. This short book covers topics from archeology to tree ring dating to radiocarbon dating of the dead sea scrolls, to dating of
meteorites and moon rocks. The book is out of print, but slightly used copies can be obtained from online dealers like Amazon.

Wagner, Günther A. (1998) Age Determination of Young Rocks and Artifacts. Springer-Verlag, New York, 466 pp. [Translated from the original Altersbestimmung von jungen Gesteinen und Artefakten,
Ferdinand Enke Verlag, Stuttgart, 1995]
This book is a quite comprehensive reference on all methods for determining dates less than about a million years old. It includes a large amount of information on archeological dating, and describes more methods than are discussed here, including TL, ESR, racemization, fluorine/uranium/nitrogen uptake, cosmic-ray exposure-age, fission track, radiocarbon, and others.

For ice core studies, the Journal of Geophysical Research, volume 102, (1997) starting with page 26,315,has 47 papers on two deep ice cores drilled in central Greenland.

Books on scripture, theology, and science:
Snoke, David (1998) A Biblical Case for an Old Earth. Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute (IBRI), Hatfield, PA, 76 pp.
Dr. Snoke, an elder in the Presbyterian Church (PCA) and a Physics professor, presents a strong
case for a geologically old Earth. He addresses typical objections brought up by young-Earth
adherents, including the death of animals before Adam and Eve’s sin, entropy (or decay) before the fall, the six days of creation, and the flood.

Sailhamer, John (1996) Genesis Unbound. Multnomah Books, Sisters, OR, 257 pp.
This is a very readable theological book about Genesis. Dr. Sailhamer has served on the translation committees for two versions of the book of Genesis. He has taught at Bethel Seminary, Philadelphia College of the Bible, Trinitiy Evangelical Divinity School, Northwestern College, and Western Seminary.

Ross, Hugh (1994) Creation and Time: A Biblical and Scientific Perspective on the Creation-Date Controversy. NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO.

Hugh Ross has a PhD in Astronomy. In this book Dr. Ross defends modern science and an old age for the universe, and refutes common young-Earth arguments. He firmly believes in the inerrancy of the Bible.

Stoner, Don (1992) A New Look at an Old Earth. Schroeder, Paramount, CA, 191 pp.
A persuasive book written for the Christian layman. Stoner uses arguments both from the theological and the scientific side. He talks somewhat philosophically about whether God deceives us with the Genesis account if the Earth is really old. Stoner also tries to discuss the meaning of the Genesis 1 text.

Van Till Howard J., Young Davis A., and Menninga Clarence (1988) Science Held Hostage. InterVarsity, Downers Grove, IL, 189 pp. This book talks about the misuse of science by both hard-line atheists and by young-Earth creationists. A good deal of the book is devoted to refuting young-Earth arguments, including a substantial section on the Grand Canyon geology. Its authors are well-known Christians in Geology and Physics.

Wiester, John (1983) The Genesis Connection. Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute, Hatfield, PA, 254 pp. John Wiester has taught Geology at Westmont and Biola University, and is active in the American Scientific Affiliation, an organization of scientists who are Christians. This book discusses many scientific discoveries relating to the age of the Earth and how these fit into the context of Genesis 1.

Young, Davis A. (1982) Christianity and the Age of the Earth. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI (now
available through Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA).

Davis Young has a PhD in Geology and teaches at Calvin College. He argues for an old Earth and
refutes many of the common young-Earth claims (including their objections to radiometric dating).

The science behind radiocarbon dating and the other 40 or so methods is settled in the science community, there are no doubts that it works. The only people disputing the methods are “Young Earth Creationists” and they apparently don’t have the brainpower to understand what is going on. The town I live in has one of the premier age dating labs in the country and the no.1 tree ring research facility in the world…I know people in both, and I understand and accept the science and the very accomplished scientists who practice it in these labs.