The Pre-History of Man

13.9 billion BC
The universe is created with the Big Bang.

4.5 billion BC
Planet Earth is formed.

3 billion BC
First signs of primeval life (bacteria and blue-green algae) appear in oceans.

600 million BC
Earliest date to which fossils can be traced.

4.4 million BC
Earliest known hominid fossils (Ardipithecus Ramidus) found in Aramis, Ethiopia, 1994.

4.2 million BC
Australopithecus Anamensis found in Lake Turkana, Kenya, 1995.

3.2 million BC
Australopithecus Afarenis (nicknamed “Lucy”) found in Ethiopia, 1974.

2.5 million BC
Homo Habilis (“Skillful Man”). First brain expansion; is believed to have used stone tools.

1.8 million BC
Homo Erectus (“Upright Man”). Brain size twice that of Australopithecine species.

1.7 million BC
Homo Erectus leaves Africa.

100,000 BC
First modern Homo Sapiens in South Africa.

70,000 BC
Neanderthal man (use of fire and advanced tools).

35,000 BC
Neanderthal man replaced by later groups of Homo Sapiens (i.e., Cro-Magnon man, etc.). The beginning of prehistory.

18,000 BC
Cro-Magnon man replaced by later cultures.

15,000 BC
Migrations across the Land Bridge into the Americas.

10,500 BC
The last Ice Age.

10,000 BC
The Middle East.
Semi-permanent agricultural settlements begin where naturally occurring multiple strains of drought-resistant wheat exist.
Dwellings move from rocks and sticks to mud brick, stone foundations, with complex wooden roof structures.




9,000–3,000 BC
Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, in modern day Iraq.

Improved methods of agricultural cultivation are developed by domesticating wheat and barley and are stored in granaries, 9,000 BC.

Animals are domesticated, 8,000 BC.

The settlement of Jericho, Israel is established, 8,000 BC.

Civilization begins in the Fertile Crescent, with individuals with specialized skills called, "specialists," in 7000 BC.

Drought stricken settlements move throughout the Middle East and into Egypt and the Indus Valley.

The first trading mud brick town with specialists, Catal Huyuk, in modern day Konya, Turkey, 6,500 BC.

Predynastic Egyptian cultures develop 5500–3100 BC.

Architecture begins at the temple of Eridu, Sumeria, in 5,300 BC.

Settlements progress into cities with the invention of the wooden plow, at the Sumerian city-state of Eridu, 5,300 BC (*).

Pottery originates in Sumeria when the wheel is discovered, in 5,000 BC.
(The oldest piece of hand molded pottery, yet discovered, dates from 29,000 to 25,000 BC and was discovered in the modern day Czech Republic.)

Earliest recorded date in the Egyptian calendar 4241 BC.

Horses are domesticated in 4,000 BC.

First year of the Jewish calendar 3760 BC.

The Sumerians develop the first phonetic written language, Cuneiform, at Uruk, in 3,500 BC; recorded history begins.

Copper is used by the Egyptians (3,150 BC) and by the Sumerians (2,900 BC), creating the Bronze Age. Western Europe remains neolithic, without metals or a written language.
The bronze plow is invented in Egypt, 3,000 BC.




Civilization begins in 7000 BC with interior plaster. It is determined that the beginning of human civilization began when people began to move away from every person, or family unit, hunting, gathering, growing food, etc. and performing the same daily tasks for survival, and began to diverse into different skill sets. The first of these occurred when one could afford to pay another, with an abundance of agricultural and animal goods, for a service. This first service was interior plastering. The plaster was made from lime and was heated by fire for several days, until it broke down into a soft stone, that could easily be crushed into a powder. The powder was mixed with water and was hand applied to interior walls. The first specialist and tradesman was a plasterer.

(*or 4,300 BC)