22 Mya
Great Rift Valley begins to form in East Africa Tectonic rifting begins opening the East African Rift System, eventually creating the uplifted, fragmented, increasingly dry landscapes and fossil-rich sediment basins where most early hominin fossils are found.
7 Mya
Sahelanthropus tchadensis lives near Lake Chad The earliest known hominin candidate, known from the 'Toumaï' skull, lived about 7 million years ago in what is now the Djurab Desert of Chad and may have walked upright.
7 Mya
Human and chimpanzee lineages split Molecular comparisons place the divergence of the human lineage from the lineage leading to chimpanzees at roughly 6–8 million years ago.
6 Mya
Orrorin tugenensis lives in Kenya An early hominin known from the Lukeino Formation in Kenya, dated to roughly 6 million years ago; its femur suggests some form of bipedalism.
4.4 Mya
Ardipithecus ramidus ('Ardi') lives in Ethiopia A 4.4-million-year-old hominin from the Middle Awash of Ethiopia combining tree-climbing feet with a pelvis adapted for upright walking.
3.7 Mya
Laetoli footprints are made Hominins, probably Australopithecus afarensis, walk across wet volcanic ash at Laetoli, leaving the oldest known trackway of upright walking.
3.3 Mya
Lomekwi stone tools made Stone tools from Lomekwi 3 near Lake Turkana, reported in 2015, date to about 3.3 million years ago — older than the genus Homo in the fossil record.
3.2 Mya
Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) lives at Hadar The female Australopithecus afarensis later nicknamed Lucy lived about 3.2 million years ago; her skeleton shows bipedal walking combined with tree-climbing traits.
2.8 Mya
Earliest known Homo: Ledi-Geraru jaw A partial lower jaw (LD 350-1) from Ledi-Geraru in Ethiopia's Afar region, dated to about 2.8 million years ago, is the earliest known fossil of the genus Homo.
2.6 Mya
Oldowan stone tools appear The Oldowan industry of simple flaked cores and flakes appears around 2.6 million years ago in East Africa, named after Olduvai Gorge.
2.6 Mya
Quaternary ice ages begin The Quaternary Period begins about 2.58 million years ago with the onset of repeated Northern Hemisphere glaciations, driving climate swings, sea-level changes and land bridges that shaped hominin dispersals.
2.4 Mya
Homo habilis appears Homo habilis, an early small-brained member of Homo associated with stone tool use, lived roughly 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago in East and southern Africa.
1.9 Mya
Homo erectus appears Homo erectus, with a larger brain and a body built for long-distance walking, appears around 1.9 million years ago and becomes the first hominin known to spread widely across Asia.
1.8 Mya
Hominins reach Dmanisi, Georgia Skulls from Dmanisi in the Caucasus, about 1.8 million years old, are among the earliest evidence of hominins outside Africa.
1.8 Mya
Acheulean hand axes appear Large bifacial hand axes of the Acheulean tradition appear around 1.76 million years ago in East Africa and persist for over a million years.
1.6 Mya
Turkana Boy lives A Homo erectus youth, living about 1.6 million years ago, whose nearly complete skeleton shows a tall, modern-proportioned body.
1.3 Mya
Mid-Pleistocene Transition Between about 1.25 million and 700,000 years ago, glacial cycles lengthen from roughly 41,000 to about 100,000 years and grow more extreme, reshaping habitats across Africa and Eurasia.
1 Mya
Controlled fire at Wonderwerk Cave Burned bone and plant ash inside Wonderwerk Cave, about one million years old, are among the earliest evidence of hominins using fire.
850 ka
Homo antecessor lives at Atapuerca Hominin fossils from Gran Dolina in Spain's Atapuerca hills, about 800,000–900,000 years old, are among the earliest humans in western Europe.
430 ka
Sima de los Huesos hominins (early Neanderthals) Remains of at least 28 individuals collected in a cave pit in Atapuerca, about 430,000 years old; nuclear DNA published in 2016 showed they were early members of the Neanderthal lineage.
315 ka
Earliest Homo sapiens at Jebel Irhoud Skull, jaw and tooth fragments from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, dated to about 300,000–315,000 years ago, are the oldest known Homo sapiens remains.
300 ka
Homo naledi lives in the Rising Star Cave system Small-brained Homo naledi, whose remains lie deep in South Africa's Rising Star Cave, lived roughly 236,000–335,000 years ago, overlapping with early Homo sapiens.
233 ka
Omo Kibish I modern human Omo I, found by Richard Leakey's team in 1967 in southern Ethiopia, was redated in 2022 to at least about 233,000 years old, making it one of the oldest East African Homo sapiens.
185 ka
Early Homo sapiens reach the Levant (Misliya jaw) A modern human upper jaw from Misliya Cave, Israel, dated to about 177,000–194,000 years ago and reported in 2018, points to an early, possibly unsuccessful, dispersal out of Africa.
146 ka
Harbin 'Dragon Man' Denisovan lives The nearly complete Harbin cranium, at least 146,000 years old, was found in 1933 during bridge construction on the Songhua River and was later shown to be a Denisovan.
75 ka
Blombos Cave engraved ochre and shell beads Engraved ochre pieces and shell beads from Blombos Cave, roughly 75,000–100,000 years old, are early evidence of symbolic behaviour in Homo sapiens.
74 ka
Toba supereruption The Youngest Toba eruption in Sumatra, about 74,000 years ago, was one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the Quaternary; its effect on human populations is still debated.
70 ka
Main Out-of-Africa dispersal of modern humans Genetic evidence indicates the populations ancestral to all present-day non-Africans left Africa sometime around 70,000–50,000 years ago and spread across Eurasia and into Sahul.
65 ka
Humans reach Australia (Madjedbebe) Excavations at the Madjedbebe rock shelter in northern Australia indicate human occupation beginning around 65,000 years ago, requiring the first major sea crossing by humans; the date remains contested against estimates near 50,000 years.
51.2 ka
Oldest figurative cave painting in Sulawesi A painted scene of humans and a pig in Leang Karampuang cave, Sulawesi, dated to at least 51,200 years ago, is the oldest known figurative art.
50 ka
Homo floresiensis on Flores The small-bodied 'hobbit' species on the island of Flores survived until roughly 50,000 years ago.
47 ka
Neanderthal–modern human interbreeding Genetic studies place the main pulse of Neanderthal gene flow into the ancestors of non-Africans at around 47,000 years ago, leaving about 1–2% Neanderthal DNA in present-day non-Africans.
42 ka
Mungo Man burial An anatomically modern human buried with ochre at Lake Mungo, New South Wales, about 40,000–42,000 years ago; found by geologist Jim Bowler in 1974.
40 ka
Neanderthals disappear Neanderthals vanish from the fossil and archaeological record around 40,000 years ago, after modern humans spread into Europe.
26 ka
Last Glacial Maximum Ice sheets reach their greatest extent and sea levels fall about 120 m, exposing land bridges such as Beringia and reshaping where humans could live.
23 ka
Humans cross Beringia into the Americas Low glacial sea levels exposed the Bering land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, the route by which people entered the Americas; exactly when remains debated.
21 ka
Human footprints at White Sands Footprints in ancient lakebed sediments at White Sands, New Mexico, dated to about 21,000–23,000 years ago and reported in 2021, suggest people were in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum.
9700 BCE
Holocene begins as the last ice age ends The Holocene epoch begins about 11,700 years ago as the last glacial period ends, sea levels rise and drown land bridges, and farming soon emerges.
1758 – 1907
8 events, back to back 1758 Linnaeus names Homo sapiens
1856 Neanderthal 1 found in the Neander Valley
1859 Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
1863 Huxley publishes Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature
1864 William King names Homo neanderthalensis
1871 Darwin publishes The Descent of Man
1891 Dubois discovers Java Man
1907 Mauer jaw (Homo heidelbergensis) found
1912 – 1964
8 events, back to back 1912 Piltdown Man announced
1925 Dart describes the Taung Child
1929 Peking Man skullcap found at Zhoukoudian
1949 Libby develops radiocarbon dating
1953 Piltdown Man exposed as a hoax
1959 Mary Leakey finds Zinjanthropus (OH 5)
1961 Potassium–argon dating of Olduvai Gorge
1964 Homo habilis named
1974 – 2009
8 events, back to back 1974 Discovery of Lucy
1978 Laetoli footprints discovered
1984 Turkana Boy discovered
1987 'Mitochondrial Eve' study published
1988 Recent African Origin model formalised
2001 Toumaï skull discovered in Chad
2004 Homo floresiensis announced
2009 Ardi published
2010 – 2025
8 events, back to back 2010 Denisovans identified from DNA
2010 Neanderthal draft genome published
2015 Homo naledi announced
2017 Jebel Irhoud redating published
2019 Homo luzonensis described
2022 Svante Pääbo awarded the Nobel Prize
2025 Harbin cranium identified as Denisovan
2025 Australopithecus and early Homo shown to coexist at Ledi-Geraru