The emergence of humans from ape ancestors has taken place mainly in the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, i.e. in recent geological time. To help understand how human evolution fits into the geological time-line, here is a summary of the later geological periods.
| Era | Period | Sub-period | Epoch | Time Range | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cainozoic | Quaternary | Holocene ("Recent") | 0.01-now | since the last ice age | |
| Pleistocene | 1.64-0.01 | repeated ice ages | |||
| Tertiary | Neogene | Pliocene | 5.2-1.64 | emergence of early humans | |
| Miocene | 23.3-5.2 | ||||
| Palaeogene | Oligocene | 35.4-23.3 | |||
| Eocene | 56.5-35.4 | first flowering of mammals | |||
| Palaeocene | 65.0-56.5 | extinction of dinosaurs |
Here is a resource on geological eras:
Dinosauria On-line – Ages
Copyright © 2004 Alan J. White; all rights reserved. Last updated January 2004.