Earth & Life Timetable     This geological and biological time scale is based on fossil finds in the different rock stratas. The first 5/6th of earth time are almost devoid of fossils and based only on rock dating. This time is also called Pre-Cambrian or Cryptozoic (hidden life) eon but nowadays (also used here) split into 2 separate time divisions, the Archean and Proterozoic eons. The Phanerozoic (obvious life) eon is divided in 3 eras, which furthermore are divided in periods and epochs. Further smaller units, called systems, series and stages are used but are not considered here.   EON ERA PERIOD EPOCH TIME   P   H   A   N   E   R   O   Z   O   I   C CENOZOIC Modern world  with animals, plants and geographical features as we know it today, came into being. Quaternary Humans appear Holocene Humans start to dominate the world. Sea levels rise after end of ice age drowning large areas of land. 10.000 yrs ago till present Pleistocene First primitive humans appear. 1/4th of land covered by ice. 1.7 million - 10. 000 years ago Tertiary Mammals become the dominant larger animals replacing  the reptiles. Pliocene Human-like apes make appearance. Climates cools as Ice Age nears. Galapagos islands rise from the sea. Panama land bridge emerges connecting South with North America facilitating the Great Interchange of animals. 5 - 1.7 mya Miocene Camel, cat, horse, raccoon, weasel  and rhinoceros dominate. 23 - 5 mya Oligocene True Primates make first appearance. Horses and tapir on American soil. 35 - 23 mya Eocene Mammals adapt to marine life.  Formation of Andes end. Drainage of Amazon reverses from west to east. 57 - 35 mya Paleocene Marsupials, carnivores, ungulates. Modern continents start to form. 65 - 57 mya MESOZOIC Age of Reptiles Cretaceous 65 million years ago, mass extinction of dinosaurs. Flowering plants and modern trees appear. Formation of the Andes begin. 145 - 65 mya Jurassic Birds make appearance, reptiles dominate sea, air and land. Cycads, conifers, ginkgoes and seed ferns. South America breaks away from Africa. 200 - 145 mya Triassic Dinosaurs and first true primitive mammals appear. Evergreen trees dominate. Breakup of Pangaea into 2 supercontinents. 250 - 200 mya PALEOZOIC Evolution from primitive to more advanced life. Life rises out of the oceans and ventures onto dry land. Permian Great mass extinction as trilobites, many fishes and corals die out because of environmental changes. Cycad like plants and true conifers appear in the north. Land masses drift together to form Pangaea. 300 - 250 mya Carboniferous Tetrapods venture out of the sea and on to land and evolve into amphibians and later reptiles. Lush forests in swamplands turned into  today's coal and oil deposits. Horsetails, lycopods, ferns abundant. 360 - 300 mya Devonian Age of fish with bony fish making appearance. Land covered with giant ferns. Insects make first appearance as true land animals. 410 - 360 mya Silurian Later a scorpion became first air-breathing animal.  Oceans teem with vertebrate, jawed fish and corals. Vascular plants venture on land as first terrestrial life. 440 - 410 mya Ordovician  Trilobites are still abundant and vertebrate fish make first appearance and so do corals. 490 - 440 mya Cambrian Marine invertebrates, especially trilobites abound in sea but no land animals yet. Seaweed in the oceans and lichens on land. Formation of Gondwanaland supercontinent. 540 - 490 mya PROTEROZOIC Soft-bodied marine invertebrates emerge 900 million years ago. Single cells join together to form multi-cellular life forms. Eukaryotic cells in oceans. 2.5 billion -  540 mya ARCHEA Photosynthesizing bacteria in the oceans begin producing oxygen, which settled in the atmosphere and was necessary for the later evolution of animals and plants. Prokaryotic cells only, bacteria in the waters and archeae. Consolidation of earth's crust and first sign of life. 3.6 - 2.5 billion years ago FORMATION OF EARTH 4.6 billion y ago FORMATION OF UNIVERSE   18 - 12 billion of years ago.