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The Signposts Perspectives 59,999,999 BC- 51,000 BC Large land and aquatic mammals appear; many kinds of primates appear (almost as many go extinct); an island continent finally disappears for good; the Mediterranean valley turns into the Mediterranean Sea; human beings emerge, develop housing, clothes, lamps, and drugs, breed dogs, use horses; Mars dies (or goes dormant) Sponsor this page a - j r m o o n e y h a m . c o m - o r i g i n a l

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BACK to timeline contents: BEFORE 59,999,999 BC...

The Signposts Perspectives: 59,999,999 BC- 51,000 BC BC Table of Contents

Introduction

Approximately 57,800,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include elephants, whales, camels, bats, penguins, weasels, cats, and dogs

Approximately 55,500,000 BC: Huge amounts of methane are added to the atmosphere, setting off a period of extensive global warming

Approximately 55,000,000 BC: Color vision first appears in the species preceding primates

Approximately 50,000,000 BC: Ants begin agricultural pursuits (cultivating fungi); Australia, Antarctica, and South America are joined near the South Pole

Tiny precursors to people

Approximately 45,000,000 BC: Some of the earliest emerging primates (predecessors to humanity) are astonishingly tiny creatures

Approximately 36,600,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include monkeys, pigs, deer, and saber-toothed cats

Approximately 35,000,000 BC: Chesapeake Bay is struck by a comet possibly as large as three miles in diameter; a similar impact happens at Popigai, northern Siberia; 100,000 years of cooler than normal climate burdens the world in the aftermath

Antarctica is Icing Over

Approximately 34,000,000 BC- 33,000,000 BC: Antarctica's massive ice sheets begin to form

Approximately 30,000,000 BC: All the continents of Earth have finally reached positions which will be familiar to 20th century humanity; The dolphins of this time are smarter than the current predecessors of humanity

Approximately 23,500,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include dolphins, apes, bears, seals, giraffes, hyenas, and grasses

Earth goes ape

Approximately 22,000,000 BC: A veritable explosion in the numbers of primitive ape species inhabiting Earth takes place

The lost continent

Approximately 20,000,000 BC: The last major island continent of a sequence including at least three and existing as dry land for many millions of years now sinks beneath the seas in the southern Indian Ocean

Approximately 18,000,000 BC: An eruption of the volcano Kisingiri in East Africa kills a large group of Proconsul (human ancestral predecessors) living near it in a manner similar to that which will occur later (79AD) in Pompeii

Most ape lines die off

Approximately 15,000,000 BC: Suddenly most competing ape lines go extinct, leaving only a handful of survivors

Approximately 15,000,000 BC: Assuming gamma bursters effectively prevented any civilization galaxy-wide from emerging until around 65,000,000 BC, the first of those have by now each had sufficient opportunity to colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy

Approximately 13,000,000 BC: A 'mini-extinction' event may be afflicting life on Earth, and the giant man-ape Gigantopithecus makes its debut

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Approximately 9,000,000 BC- 7,000,000 BC: On an island in the Mediterranean, an unusual ape is spending much of its time standing upright, and walking short distances to procure food

Approximately 9,000,000 BC- 4,000,000 BC: The Tibet Plateau is forming, changing weather patterns for much of Asia and east Africa

The ancestral lines of gorillas and humans part ways

Approximately 8,000,000 BC: The primate ancestors of 20th century human beings are diverging genetically from gorillas now

The ancestral lines of chimpanzees and humans split apart

Approximately 6,000,000 BC - 5,000,000 BC: The primate ancestors of 20th century human beings are diverging genetically from chimpanzees now

Approximately 6,000,000 BC - 5,500,000 BC: What will be known in 1999 AD as the vast Mediterranean Sea is today an enormous dry gorge in the Earth...

Approximately 5,500,000 BC: The great natural dam at Gibralter is either burst by an earthquake or over-run by rising sea levels, with the result being a staggeringly violent rebirth of the Mediterranean Sea...

Approximately 5,200,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include australopithecines, Homo habilis, armadillos, giant sloths, and mammoths

Approximately 5,000,000 BC: Any predominant non-human galactic empire in our own galaxy apparently begins no earlier than now

Chimp-like human predecessors lose most of their hair, stand upright, and gain the ability to mimic the sounds of other animals (a versatile speech capacity)

Approximately 5,000,000 BC: Earth possibly suffers a 'cosmic ray' winter for thousands of years; human ancestors are walking upright on two legs (and consequently gain the power of imitative speech)...

Approximately 4,100,000+ BC: Hominids are definitely walking upright now, if not earlier

Approximately 3,300,000 BC: Human predecessor Australopithecus possesses the skull of an ape, but teeth and hands similar to those of later 20th century man

Human predecessors are learning the power and pleasure of vocal harmonies and other sounds (song and music)

Approximately 3,000,000 BC to 2,000,000 BC: A mysterious time of transformative evolution for the creature that someday will call itself "human"

Approximately 2,500,000 BC: Some primordial humanoids are now butchering and eating meat; Bonobos are diverging genetically from the other chimpanzees

Approximately 2,300,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: A Stone Age "tool factory" is in operation in Kenya, and a possible 0.5+ km asteroid impact in the deep southeast Pacific Ocean may increase atmospheric water vapor sufficiently to eventually bring about the next Ice Age

Human predecessors on rare occasion enjoy brief use of fire

Approximately 2,000,000 BC -8,000 BC: Primordial humanoids are nomadic hunter-gatherers

Approximately 2,000,000 BC -1,700,000 BC: At least some australopithecines are practicing cannibals at this time Human predecessors are learning to maintain multiple fires for lengthy periods (since they cannot start them from scratch); the regular need for fuel in addition to food intensifies both the nomadic nature of these beings and their territoriality; relationships between the sexes are changing dramatically

Approximately 1,900,000 BC: Some hominids are perhaps making use of fire to cook vegetables (and undergoing revolutionary changes in sexual relationships and matters of social cooperation); cooking helps extend lifespans in several ways

Approximately 1,600,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include Homo erectus, neanderthals, modern humans, giant beavers, giant bison, and many other species of hoofed mammals

Approximately 1,500,000 BC: Homo erectus is using fire for heat, light, and perhaps food preparation and preservation

Approximately 1,500,000 BC - 500,000 BC: Saber-toothed tigers help human predecessors expand into Europe from Africa

Approximately 1,000,000 BC: Things are beginning to get interesting in the Americas

Approximately 2,000,000 BC- 1,000,000+ BC: Prototypical humans are producing chopping tools and using flaking techniques for other tool-making chores; The terrifying giant flightless predatory bird Titanus (Phorusrhacidae) and its relatives may be going extinct in the Americas

Approximately 1,000,000 BC- 400,000 BC: Small, closed societies of nomadic hunter-gatherers dot southern England

Approximately 1,000,000 BC- 100,000 BC: Some mutated Homo erectus (or perhaps prototypical Homo sapiens) of this time in central Java may be capable of complex reasoning and even spoken language

Many of the most advanced human predecessors of this time may be wiped out by tidal wave

Approximately 998,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: Ten percent of the island of Oahu Hawaii suddenly plunges into the ocean during an earthquake, creating a gigantic tidal wave for much of the Pacific Rim

Humans are making purposeful sea crossings, and likely have developed language

Approximately 878,000 BC to 798,000 BC: Some factions of humanity may be managing to successfully traverse the oceans now, at least in part due to the organizational power of rudimentary speech skills

Approximately 800,000 BC: At least some of the complex social patterns required to support prolonged child rearing apparently exist among some variations of human ancestors now...

Approximately 780,000 BC: Apparently cannibalism is common among some prehistoric humans at this time; Homo erectus is expanding into Israel; The Earth's magnetic field undergoes one of its periodic reversals now

Approximately 700,000 BC: A rare super meteor storm may be raging over the region of Australia and southeast Asia now...

Mars loses the last of its surface life

Approximately 600,000 BC: The last surface life on Mars (bacteria) may be dying

Approximately 800,000 BC- 500,000 BC: The ancestors of 20th century humans split from those of the Neanderthals now

Approximately 500,000 BC +: Several variants of hominids expand into temperate europe, some 20,000 years after others had settled in China

Humans are constructing housing

Approximately 500,000 BC: Homo erectus is building huts; The primate Gigantopithecus may be going extinct

Approximately 500,000 BC: Microbial life is continuing to survive in the crust of Mars

Approximately 450,000 BC-100,000 BC: Homo Sapiens is making practical food containers and tools suitable for "cutting, chopping and scraping"

Approximately 400,000 BC- 350,000 BC: Humans in Africa are making pigments/paints for aesthetic purposes now, if not earlier; People in Germany are beginning to engage in sculpture

Approximately 400,000 BC: The Earth warms up considerably and stays that way for at least 30,000 years

Approximately 400,000 BC: Hominids are using covered wood shelters in the vicinity of France, and sophistocated throwing spears to kill big game

Approximately 400,000 BC- 200,000 BC: Eventually all of 20th century humanity will be descended from a single woman living during this time

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Approximately 250,000 BC: The last pure Homo erectus groups are dying out or evolving into something different now; Small but significant numbers of human beings may be reaching Valsequillo Mexico from across the Pacific now

Approximately 200,000 BC: Eurasian humanity may be taking the baton from African humanity now in terms of accelerated evolution

Humans begin wearing clothing

Approximately 200,000+ BC: Hominids are treating animal skins for use as clothing

Approximately 200,000 BC- 50,000 BC: Various hominids are living in small, roaming groups; The majority of humanity has become righthanded

Approximately 187,000 BC: The ancestral gene tree of modern humans splits into two branches now...

Approximately 148,000 BC- 98,000 BC: A relatively small migration of modern humans leaves Africa

Humanity is domesticating wolves/dogs

133,000+ BC: The first wolves are successfully tamed by humans in Eurasia, and world geography closely resembles that of 1999 AD...

Approximately 128,000 BC: Humanity gets chins; possibly due to thousands of years of 'wolf wars'

Approximately 128,000 BC - 108,000 BC: The Earth enjoys a warm interglacial period (the Eemian period)

Approximately 123,000 BC: People may be tending to cluster on the sea coasts of Africa, due to the access to seafood

Approximately 118,000 BC: Flint tools are appearing in south Africa

MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR: 118,000 BC to 8,000 BC: the last Ice Age; a third of Earth's surface is sheathed in ice for much of this period-- and world geography undergoes drastic changes

100,000 BC+: Humanity may have domesticated horses by now-- at least in some regions of the world

98,000 BC: Humanity has definitely developed the mental skills necessary to support spoken language by now (if not much earlier); a tsunami beginning with a height of possibly a quarter-mile strikes portions of coastal Australia and New Zealand (as well as miscellaneous other isles)

Approximately 98,000 BC: Neanderthals in Europe are practicing cannibals

98,000 BC- 9,500 BC: Global sea levels are consistently lower now than they will be in the 20th century AD

Approximately 98,000 BC - 88,000 BC: Around 98,000 BC fully modern humans are emerging now for the first time worldwide; Sometime over the next 10,000 years they take up residence in the Middle East and Africa

Approximately 98,000 BC- 48,000 BC: Human populations may be increasing rapidly now

Approximately 78,000 BC: A child appears to be intentionally buried in the Nile Valley

Humanity mostly solves the fire problem with the invention of lamps

Approximately 70,000+ BC: Lamps are invented; mankind more conveniently illuminates the darkness above and below ground, as well as inside constructed housing

Approximately 400,000 BC-69,000 BC: The direct predecessors of humanity suffer a grievous blow in terms of population numbers during this time; perhaps more than one

A humanity significantly mutated by near-extinction now diverges from the original black skin color to many hues.

69,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: Humanity may be nearly driven to extinction by a massive volcanic eruption which intensifies the current Ice Age via a 'nuclear winter' type effect

Approximately 58,000 BC: Another wave of humanity is migrating out of Africa and across India, Asia, and Australia

Drugs/medicines

Approximately 58,000 BC- 48,000 BC; Prehistoric man now (if not earlier) begins purposeful use of various substances for the alleviation of pain and sickness, and perhaps other matters

Approximately 174,000 BC - 53,000 BC: Human beings begin populating Australia

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