The timeline of human evolution outlines the major events in the evolutionary lineage of the modern human species, Homo sapiens, throughout the history of life, beginning some 4 billion years ago down to recent evolution within H. sapiens during and since the Last Glacial Period.
It includes brief explanations of the various taxonomic ranks in the human lineage. The timeline reflects the mainstream views in modern taxonomy, based on the principle of phylogenetic nomenclature; in cases of open questions with no clear consensus, the main competing possibilities are briefly outlined.
Overview of taxonomic ranks
A tabular overview of the taxonomic ranking of Homo sapiens (with age estimates for each rank) is shown below.
Timeline
Unicellular life
Animalia
Chordata
Tetrapoda
Mammals
Primates
Hominidae
Homo
Homo sapiens
See also
Evolution of human intelligence
Graphical timeline of the universe
Human evolution
Recent human evolution
List of human evolution fossils
Natural history
Human history
History of Earth
Timeline of prehistory
Timeline of the evolutionary history of life
List of timelines
References
External links
Palaeos
Hominid Timeline
Berkeley Evolution
History of Animal Evolution
Tree of Life Web Project – explore complete phylogenetic tree interactively
Human Timeline (Interactive) – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).