Timeline Outline View

  • Eras
  • Themes

Olduvai Gorge
The First Industrial Complex
(Circa 2,500,000 BCE – 500,000 BCE)

The extent of glacial ice during the Pleistocene epoch. (View Larger)
The Quaternary Period, Including the Ice Age, Begins
(Circa 2,500,000 BCE)

A New Hominid Species is Discovered with the Help of Satellite Imagery
(Circa 1,950,000 BCE – 1,780,000 BCE)

A flint biface, discovered in Saint-Acheul, France. (View Larger)
Acheulean or Mode 2 Industries
(Circa 1,650,000 BCE – 100,000 BCE)

Ancient footprints at Koobi Fora. Photograph by Brian Richmond. (View Larger)
The Earliest Preserved Footprints of Our Ancestors
(Circa 1,530,000 BCE – 1,510,000 BCE)

Five bone tools excavated in Swartkrans, South Africa, once used by Parantrhopus robustus for foraging purposes. Photography by Jim Di Loreto and Don Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Early Humans Make Bone Tools
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE)

Scorched stone tools excavated in 2004 at Gesher Benot-Ya-aqov, in Israel, provide evidence for the existence of early hearths. Photograph by Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Hearths
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE – 790,000 BCE)

Ancient stone tools discovered at the Hapisburgh excavation site, East Anglia, England. Photocredit: Parfitt et al. Nature (View Larger)
Humans May Have Lived in Britain as Early as 950,000 Years Ago
(Circa 950,000 BCE – 780,000 BCE)

Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Hunting Large Animals With Spears
(Circa 500,000 BCE)

A sample of geothite, or brown ochre. (View Larger)
The Earliest Use of Pigments
(Circa 400,000 BCE – 350,000 BCE)

One of three spears found at Schöningen, Germany in 1995. Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Oldest Wooden Spears
(Circa 400,000 BCE)

A silcrete nodule exhibiting the signs of experimental heat-treatment. Photocredit: Science/AAAS. (View Larger)
Early Humans Use Heat-Treated Stone for Tools
(Circa 164,000 BCE – 70,000 BCE)

Evidence for the Origin of Language in Southwestern Africa
(Circa 150,000 BCE – 50,000 BCE)

Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Known Forms of Human Adornment
(Circa 132,000 BCE – 98,000 BCE)

Stone tools found on Crete dating back over 130,000 years suggest that prehistoric civilizations took to the sea much earlier than previously thought. (view larger)
The Earliest Evidence of Sea Voyages
(Circa 130,000 BCE)

A projectile point, estimated to be over 104,000 years old, uncovered in Omo Kibish, Ethipia. Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Tools for Capturing Fast or Dangerous Prey
(Circa 104,000 BCE)

Pieces of ochre excavated in Qafzeh, Israel, suggesting intentional burial. Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Oldest Intentional Burial
(Circa 100,000 BCE)

The Earliest Paint Workshop
(Circa 100,000 BCE)

The Katanda Bone Harpoon Point. Photocredit: Smithsonian Institution.
Katanda Bone Harpoon Point
(88,000 BCE – 78,000 BCE)

Shells of Nassarius gibbosulus, estimated to be around 82,000 years old, found in Morocco. (View Larger)
Evidence of Early Trade Routes?
(Circa 80,000 BCE)

Early Attempt to Record Information or Early Art?
(Circa 75,000 BCE – 73,000 BCE)

A silcrete stone tool from Blombos Cave in South Africa, finished with pressure flaking. (View Larger)
Tool Making by Pressure Flaking Discovered in Africa
(Circa 75,000 BCE)

At Sibudu Cave, the Oldest Known Early Bedding and Use of Medicinal Plants
(Circa 75,000 BCE)

From Sibudu Cave: the Earliest Known Creation and Use of Compound Adhesives, Suggesting Complex Cognition
(Circa 68,000 BCE)

The Venus of Schelklingen.
The Earliest Known Examples of Figurative Art
(Circa 38,000 BCE – 33,000 BCE)

The introduction of sturdy shoes led weaker toes.
The First Sturdy Shoes are Invented
(38,000 BCE)

A map of Swaziland, including the Lebombo Mountains to the East.
The Oldest Known Mathematical Artifact
(35,000 BCE)

A flute, found in the hills west of Ulm Germany, that is believed to be 35,000 years old.
The Earliest Musical Instruments
(Circa 33,000 BCE)

Wild flax fibers discovered in Dzudzuana Cave. (View Larger)
Making Materials from Flax Fibers
(Circa 32,000 BCE – 28,000 BCE)

The Earliest Paintings
(Circa 30,000 BCE)

The 'Lion Man,' preserved in the Ulmer Museum in Ulm, Germany. (View a full-scale image.)
The Earliest Zoomorphic / Anthropomorphic Sculpture
(Circa 30,000 BCE)

The Advantages of Orally Transmitted Traditions
(Circa 30,000 BCE)

The Venus of Dolní Věstonice. (View Larger)
The Oldest Known Ceramic Figurine
(29,000 BCE – 25,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Some of the Earliest Tools for Sewing Garments
(Circa 28,000 BCE – 21,000 BCE)

The Ishango Bone
(25,000 BCE – 20,000 BCE)

A modern replica of the Venus of Lespugue. (View Larger)
The Earliest Representation of Spun Thread
(25,000 BCE)

The Venus of Willendorf. (View Larger)
The Venus of Willendorf
(Circa 24,000 BCE – 22,000 BCE)

The Venus of Brassempouy. (View Larger)
One of the Earliest Known Realistic Representations of a Human Face
(Circa 23,000 BCE)

Cylcons
(Circa 18,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Pottery
(Circa 16,000 BCE)

'The Sorcerer' is one name for this cryptic painting found in the Trois Frères in France by Henri Breuil. Photocredit: Encyclopaedia Britannica(View Larger)
"The Sorcerer"
(Circa 12,000 BCE)

Pre-Historic Art Created by Children at the Cave of a Hundred Mammoths, Rouffignac
(Circa 11,000 BCE)

Perhaps the Oldest Map in the World
(10,000 BCE)

The Holocene Interglacial Period Begins
(Circa 10,000 BCE)

Emmer wheat, one of the first domesticated crops. (View Larger)
The Eight Founding Crops of Domesticated Agriculture
(Circa 9,500 BCE)

The Göbekli Tepe, Turkist for 'Potbelly Hill,' is the oldest discovered structure for religious worship. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Human-Made Place of Worship
(Circa 9,500 BCE)