Master Time Line Reference

Version 02

Time Lines Notes

Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era (from the Greek palaios (παλαιός), "old" and zoe (ζωή), "life", meaning "ancient life"is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, spanning from roughly 541 to 252.2 million years ago

It is the longest of the Phanerozoic eras, and is subdivided into six geologic periods (from oldest to least old): the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian. The Paleozoic comes after the Neoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, and is followed by the Mesozoic Era.

The Cambrian Period witnessed the most rapid and widespread diversification of life in Earth's history, known as the Cambrian explosion, in which most modern phyla first appeared. Fish, arthropods, amphibians and reptiles all evolved during the Paleozoic. Life began in the ocean but eventually transitioned onto land, and by the late Paleozoic, it was dominated by various forms of organisms. Great forests of primitive plants covered the continents, many of which formed the coal beds of Europe and eastern North America. Towards the end of the era, large, sophisticated reptiles were dominant and the first modern plants (conifers) appeared.

The Paleozoic Era ended with the largest mass extinction in Earth's history, the Permian–Triassic extinction event. The effects of this catastrophe were so devastating that it took life on land 30 million years into the Mesozoic to recover.[2] Recovery of life in the sea may have been much faster

Permian period is a geologic period and
system which extends from 298.9 ± 0.2 to 252.2 ± 0.5 Ma
It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era.

Mesozoic Era 252.2 Ma,

Triassic Period is a geologic period and system
that extends from about 250 to 200 Ma 252.2 ± 0.5 to 201.3 ± 0.2 Ma

Jurassic Period is a geologic period and system
that constitutes the middle period of the
Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles
and extends from 201.3± 0.6 Ma to 145± 4 Ma

The start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. Another extinction event, the Late Piensbachian/Early Toarcian event, occurred in the Early Jurassic, and a third extinction event, the Late Tithonian event, occurred at the end of the Jurassic; however neither of these two events rank among the 'Big Five' mass extinction.

Cretaceous Period (/krɨˈteɪʃəs/, krə-tay-shəs), derived from the Latin "creta" (chalk), usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide (chalk), is a geologic period and system from circa
145 ± 4 to 66 Ma ago

In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, and, spanning 79 million years, the longest period of the Phanerozoic Eon.

The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels and creating numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a large mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs and large marine reptiles, died out. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the K–Pg boundary, a geologic signature associated with the mass extinction which lies between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras.

K–Pg / K–T extinction abbreviation of Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction, also called K–Pg extinction or Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, a global extinction event responsible for eliminating approximately 80 percent of all species of animals at or very close to the
boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene
periods, about 66 Ma

The Bone Yard Bard Comes on the Stage:

System Series Stage Age (Ma)

Aquitanian 20.43–23.03

Burdigalian 15.97–20.43

Langhian 13.65–15.97

Serravallian 11.608–13.65

Tortonian 7.246–11.608

Miocene Messinian 5.332–7.246

Late Miocene Bones 1.1 7 - 5.3 Ma

Zanclean 3.600–5.332

Neogene Pliocene Piacenzian 2.588–3.600

Pliocene Bones 2.1 5.3 - 2.58

Pleistocene Bones
Lower Paleolithic: 2.58 Ma - 300,000 Years
Middle Paleolithic: 300,000 - 50,000 years

Pinnacle Point Caves have revealed
occupation by Middle Stone Age people
between 170,000 and 40,000 years ago

Upper Paleolithic: 50,000 - 10,000 years old

Holocene Bones
Mesolithic / Neolithic: 10,000 - 5000 years old

Quaternary Pleistocene Gelasian younger

Palaeolithic period,
Old Stone Age 2,500,000 to 200,000 BC Age, Era or Period is a ... λίθος, lithos, "stone", literally meaning "old age of the stone" or "Old Stone Age."

Western Europe pre c. 8800 BC

Pleistocene ('Ice Age')
approximately 11,600 years ago

Mesolithic c. 8800 – 4900 BC

Mesolithic 9600 - 4000 BC.

The Mesolithic period or
('Middle Stone Age') Stone Age 2,000,000 BP – 3300 BCE

Paleolithic 2,000,000 BP – 8300 BCE

Lower Paleolithic 2,000,000 BP – 300,000 BP

Middle Paleolithic 300,000 BP – 30,000 BP

Upper Paleolithic 30,000 BP – 12,000 BP

Younger Dryas period 12,900
Asteroid or comet that struck Quebec caused the abrupt change to a colder, drier climate. As a result of the impact and dramatic climate change - also referred to as the ‘Big Freeze’ - mammals including mastodons, camels, giant sloths, and saber-toothed cats all vanished in North America, forcing human hunters to set aside their spears and instead gather plants and cultivation. Meanwhile in the Mediterranean, the first farmers started to grow crops - thus the invention of agriculture served as a pivotal step in the development of communities and the division of labor, and led to the establishment of civilization.

Epipaleolithic 12,000 BP – 8300 BCE

Megalithic period 5000 1500 BC

Neolithic c. 4900 – 2000 BC

The Neolithic Era, or Period, from νέος (néos, "new") and λίθος (líthos, "stone"), or New Stone age

Neolithic The New Stone Age or
Neolithic began around 6,000
years ago 8300 BCE – 4500 BCE.

Pre-pottery Neolithic 8300 BCE – 5500 BCE

Pottery Neolithic BCE – 4500 BCE

Chalcolithic 4500 BCE – 3300 BCE

Early Chalcolithic 4500 BCE – 4000 BCE

Late Chalcolithic (Ghassulian) 4000 BCE – 3300 BCE

Bronze AgeBronze Age c. 2000 – 800 BC

Bronze Age 3300 BCE – 1200 BCE

Early Bronze Age 3300 BCE – 2000 BC

Early Bronze Age I 3300 BCE – 3000 BCE

Early Bronze Age II 3000 BCE – 2700 BCE

Early Bronze Age III 2700 BCE – 2200 BCE

Early Bronze Age IV 2200 BCE – 2000 BCE

Middle Bronze Age 2000 BCE – 1550 BCE

Middle Bronze Age I 2000 BCE – 1750 BCE

Middle Bronze Age II 1750 BCE – 1650 BCE

Middle Bronze Age III 1650 BCE – 1550 BCE

Late Bronze Age 1550 BCE – 1200 BCE

Late Bronze Age I 1550 BCE – 1400 BCE

Late Bronze Age II A 1400 BCE – 1300 BCE

Late Bronze Age II B 1300 BCE – 1200 BCE

Coligny Calendar 1100 BCE
(first century bce Celtic calendar discovered in 1897),
astronomical calculus shows that it must have been computed in 1100 bce

Iron Age c. 800 – 1 BC

Iron Age 1200 BCE – 586 BCE

Iron Age I 1200 BCE – 1000 BCE

Iron Age I A 1200 BCE – 1150 BCE

Iron Age I B 1150 BCE – 1000 BCE

Iron Age II 1000 BCE – 586 BCE

Iron Age II A 1000 BCE – 900 BCE

Iron Age II B 900 BCE – 700 BCE

Iron Age II C 700 BCE – 586 BCE

Etruscan ages:

800 BCE Beginning of the Etruscan civilization in Italy.

539 BCE Etruscan & Carthaginian alliance expels the Greeks from Corsica.

535 BCE Battle of Alalia. Carthaginian navy, in alliance with Etruscans, defeated Greek ships off the island of Corsica.

c. 475 BCE Celts defeat the Etruscans at the Ticino River.

400 BCE Celts enter Italy and settle in the Po Valley. Etruscan power declines.

396 BCE Celts defeat the Etruscan army at the battle of Melpum. Afterwards the Celts heavily settle all over the Po Valley.

396 BCE Roman expansion begins with the capture of Veii from the Etruscans.

391 BCE Senones besiege Clusium, an Etruscan city.

298 BCE - 290 BCE Third Samnite War. Victory for Rome, peace with the Etruscans.

283 BCE Romans defeat the Etruscans and Celts at lake Vadimonis.

225 BCE Celts defeat 6000 Romans at Faesulae and proceed to overrun Etruria.

Roman c. AD 1 – 400

Early medieval period c. AD 400 – 800

Medieval period 800 – c. 1500

Post-medieval period c. 1500 – c. 1800

Roman Iron Age c. AD 1 – 400

Germanic Iron Age c. AD 400 – 800

Viking Age c. AD 800 – 1066

Medieval period 1066 – c. 1500

Post-medieval period c. 1500 – c. 1800

Historical periods 586 BCE – present

Babylonian & Persian periods 586 BCE – 332 BC.

Hellenistic period 332 BCE – 37 BCE

Early Hellenistic 332 BCE – 167 BCE

Late Hellenistic 167 BCE – 37 BCE

Roman period 37 BCE – 324 CE

Early Roman 37 BCE – 132 CE

Late Roman 132 CE – 324

Byzantine period 324 – 638

Early Arab period
(Umayyad and Abbasid) 638 – 1099

Crusader & Ayyubid
periods 1099 – 1291

Late Arab period
(Fatimid and Mamluk) 1291 – 1516

Ottoman period 1516 – 1917

Modern period 1917 – current

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BC, AD, BCE, BP Abbreviation(s), Latin phrase, Meaning

Abbreviation(s) Latin phrase Meaning

BC * (Christian calendar concepts) before Christ

BCE Before Common Era Years are designated as before the Christ's birth.

AD ** (Christian calendar concepts) Anno Domino Year of the Lord in the year of the Lord Years are designated as after the Christ's birth.

BP *** "Before Present" means before 1950. The most commonly used convention in radiocarbon dating. "Present" referring to the year 1950 AD. 1950 is the date that the calibration curves were established. It also predates atmospheric testing of the atom bomb, which significantly upset C12/C14 ratios in the following years.

CE Common Era (also Current Era or Christian Era , abbreviated as CE, is an alternative naming of the traditional calendar era,
Anno Domini (abbreviated AD)

EV Era Vulgaris "Christian, Vulgar or Common Era"for all pratical purposes can be used interchangeably

Ma million years.

History of the use of the CE/BCE abbreviation

(CE/BCE and AD/BC) are numerically equivalent

* In the Gregorian Calendar, which we use, there is no year zero and the sequence of years near the start runs as follows: ..., 4BC, 3BC, 2BC, 1BC, 1AD, 2AD, 3AD, 4AD ...

** Since 2000 AD is the 2000th year of the Christian calendar, it was the last year of the 2nd millennium. So the 3rd millennium and the 21st century began at the same moment - on January 01, 2001.

*** If a radiocarbon lab reports an age of 13000 years BP, they are implying that the fossil would have died 13000 years before 1950 AD.

Coligny Calendar (first century bce Celtic calendar discovered in 1897), astronomical calculus shows that it must have been computed in 1100 bce