Relativity Project
Evolutionary History Wall
It is a timeline of the history of life on earth and its endurance and survival through several extinctions.
Each thumbprint represents a million years.
To visualize a million years each thumbprint represents 1000 grey dots.
Each of those grey dots represents 1000 of the black dots.
Black Earth: Earth’s formation (4.55 - 4.3 Billion Years Ago)
4.55 Billion years ago – Earth forms
4.5 Billion years ago - Meteor bombardment
4.4 Billion years - Core of the Earth forms
Grey Earth: Minerals accumulate (4.3 – 3.85 Billion Years Ago)
4.2 Billion years ago – Oceans formed
3.85 Billion Years ago – First chemical life forms
Blue Earth: Mostly an ocean earth (3.85 – 2.45 Billion years ago)
3.8 Billion years ago – Bacteria diversify
3.7 Billion years ago – The first photosynthetic bacteria *which they suspect were originally purple in color
3.5 Billion Years ago – Cyanobacteria (a.k.a. “blue green algae”, but it is actually bacteria)
2.7 Billion Years ago – 1st Eukaryotic cells
2.6 Billion Years ago – Bacteria on land
Red Earth: Earth “rusts” because oxygen starts collecting in Earth’s atmosphere and interacts with the planet’s tremendous amount of Iron. (2.5 Billion – 850 Million Years Ago)
2.5 Billion Years Ago – Age of Oxygen
2 Billion Years Ago – Oxidation causes red layers that can be found in geological rock formations from this time.
1.5 Billion Years Ago – 1st Viruses
1.2 Billion Years ago – Multicellular Algae communities
900 Million Years Ago – Ediacaran Organisms evolve.
White Earth: “Snowball Earth”. Earth freezes (850 – 600 Million years ago)
600 Million Years Ago – Earth’s ozone solidifies and protects the planet from massive amounts of UV-rays from the sun
Green Earth: “Life as we know it”. Earth begins to warm as Carbon Dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, and life rapidly diversifies (600 Million Years ago – Today)
570 Million Years Ago – The first fungi, a chytrid like variety. Chytrid is the fungus causing the global pandemic and extinction of many frog species.
565 million years ago - first sexual reproduction
543 Million Years Ago – Vendian Extinction (Level 3)
Hard Shelled Animals Evolve
540 Million Years Ago – Oldest Arthropods (trilobites) and Comb Jellyfish evolve.
535 Million Years Ago – One of your earliest relatives, the Pikaia. The evolution of chordate phylum (i.e. notochord and later backbone)
530 Million Years Ago – 1st Reefs form
520 Million Years Ago – Cambrian Extinction (Level 3)
500 Million Years Ago – First Coral evolves
480 Million Years Ago – First land plants *and first fishes
450 Million Years Ago – Sharks, Skates and Rays
443 Million Years Ago – Ordovician Extinction (Level 2) 65% of all life became extinct
425 Million Years Ago – Early Vascular plants on land
420 Million Years Ago - Arthropods on land *insects
400 Million Years Ago – Oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere reaches its current rate of 21%
375 Million Years Ago – First Land Amphibians
364 Million Years Ago – Devonian Extinction (Level 2) 70% of all life became extinct
350 Million Years Ago – The first “coal forests”. What we burn today for coal power was formed
320 Million Years Ago – Reptiles evolve
290 Million Years Ago - First frog / salamander; Gerobatrachus
250 Million Years Ago – Permian Extinction (Level1) 93% - 97% of all life became extinct
240 Million Years Ago – Modern coral evolves
225 Million Years Ago – First Triassic Dinosaurs
206 Million Years Ago – Triassic Extinction (Level 2) 70% - 75% of all life became extinct
Jurassic Period begins and the rise of the Sauropod.
190 Million Years Ago – First Frog, Prosalirus bitis
160 Million Years Ago – First Mammals
130 Million Years Ago – Flowering plants
100 Million Years Ago – Bees evolve
70 Million Years Ago – Tyrannosaurus Rex evolves
65 Million Years Ago – Cretaceous Extinction (Level 1) 75% of all life became extinct
55 Million Years Ago – Bats evolve
20 Million Years Ago – The Great Barrier Reef forms.
The same reef scientists predict will go extinct in the next 20 years.
5.2 Million Years Ago – Early Hominids evolve
2 Million Years Ago – Ice age *Mammoths and other large animals
1.6 Million Years Ago – Homo Erectus
200 Thousand Years Ago – Modern humans evolve
Today – Level 1 Extinction Rate