3874 entries. Last updated May 21, 2013.

Prehistory Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

2,500,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE

<p>Olduvai Gorge</p>
The First Industrial Complex
(Circa 2,500,000 BCE – 500,000 BCE)

<p>Skull of Malapa Hominin 1. MH1 also known as <em>australopethicus sediba</em>.</p>
A New Hominid Species is Discovered with the Help of Satellite Imagery
(Circa 1,950,000 BCE – 1,780,000 BCE)

A flint biface, discovered in Saint-Acheul, France. (View Larger)
Acheulean or Mode 2 Industries
(Circa 1,650,000 BCE – 100,000 BCE)

Ancient footprints at Koobi Fora. Photograph by Brian Richmond. (View Larger)
The Earliest Preserved Footprints of Our Ancestors
(Circa 1,530,000 BCE – 1,510,000 BCE)

Five bone tools excavated in Swartkrans, South Africa, once used by Parantrhopus robustus for foraging purposes. Photography by Jim Di Loreto and Don Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Early Humans Make Bone Tools
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE)

Scorched stone tools excavated in 2004 at Gesher Benot-Ya-aqov, in Israel, provide evidence for the existence of early hearths. Photograph by Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Hearths
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE – 790,000 BCE)

Ancient stone tools discovered at the Hapisburgh excavation site, East Anglia, England. Photocredit: Parfitt et al. Nature (View Larger)
Humans May Have Lived in Britain as Early as 950,000 Years Ago
(Circa 950,000 BCE – 780,000 BCE)

Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Hunting Large Animals With Spears
(Circa 500,000 BCE)

<p>Example of nearly 500,000 year-old hafted spear tips from Kathu Pan 1. Photo by Jayne Wilkins.</p>
Man Began Hunting with Stone-Tipped Spears 500,000 Years Ago
(Circa 500,000 BCE)

A sample of geothite, or brown ochre. (View Larger)
The Earliest Use of Pigments
(Circa 400,000 BCE – 350,000 BCE)

One of three spears found at Schöningen, Germany in 1995. Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Oldest Wooden Spears
(Circa 400,000 BCE)

A silcrete nodule exhibiting the signs of experimental heat-treatment. Photocredit: Science/AAAS. (View Larger)
Early Humans Use Heat-Treated Stone for Tools
(Circa 164,000 BCE – 70,000 BCE)

<p>Map showing origin and spread of language from southern Africa.  Graphic from the journal Science and the New York Times.</p>
Evidence for the Origin of Language in Southwestern Africa
(Circa 150,000 BCE – 50,000 BCE)

Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Known Forms of Human Adornment
(Circa 132,000 BCE – 98,000 BCE)

Stone tools found on Crete dating back over 130,000 years suggest that prehistoric civilizations took to the sea much earlier than previously thought. (view larger)
The Earliest Evidence of Sea Voyages
(Circa 130,000 BCE)

A projectile point, estimated to be over 104,000 years old, uncovered in Omo Kibish, Ethipia. Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Tools for Capturing Fast or Dangerous Prey
(Circa 104,000 BCE)

Pieces of ochre excavated in Qafzeh, Israel, suggesting intentional burial. Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Oldest Intentional Burial
(Circa 100,000 BCE)

<p>Ablone shell containing red ochre rich mixture.  Image by Grethe Moell Pedersen.</p>
The Earliest Paint Workshop
(Circa 100,000 BCE)

The Katanda Bone Harpoon Point. Photocredit: Smithsonian Institution.
Katanda Bone Harpoon Point
(88,000 BCE – 78,000 BCE)

Shells of Nassarius gibbosulus, estimated to be around 82,000 years old, found in Morocco. (View Larger)
Evidence of Early Trade Routes?
(Circa 80,000 BCE)

Early Attempt to Record Information or Early Art?
(Circa 75,000 BCE – 73,000 BCE)

A silcrete stone tool from Blombos Cave in South Africa, finished with pressure flaking. (View Larger)
Tool Making by Pressure Flaking Discovered in Africa
(Circa 75,000 BCE)

<p>Sediments containing ancient mattresses at Sibudu Caves.  Photo by Lyn Wadley.</p>
At Sibudu Cave, the Oldest Known Early Bedding and Use of Medicinal Plants
(Circa 75,000 BCE)

<p>Stone tools (segments) with adhesive from Sibudu Cave.  Segment with red ochre visible to the naked eye as well as microscopic views of red ochre and plant gum on the tool.</p>
From Sibudu Cave: the Earliest Known Creation and Use of Compound Adhesives, Suggesting Complex Cognition
(Circa 68,000 BCE)

The Venus of Schelklingen.
The Earliest Known Examples of Figurative Art
(Circa 38,000 BCE – 33,000 BCE)

The introduction of sturdy shoes led weaker toes.
The First Sturdy Shoes are Invented
(38,000 BCE)

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The Oldest Cave Painting
(Circa 37,000 BCE)

<p>Lembobo bone or tally stick.</p>
The Oldest Known Mathematical Artifact
(35,000 BCE)

A flute, found in the hills west of Ulm Germany, that is believed to be 35,000 years old.
The Earliest Musical Instruments
(Circa 33,000 BCE)

<p>37mm long, 7.5 gram figurine, made from mammoth ivory is some 35,000 years old. It is one of the oldest pieces of art ever found.  Photo: ©Universität Tübingen.</p>
The Earliest Known Carving of a Mammoth
(Circa 33,000 BCE)

<p>Fighting rhinos and horses. Detail from one of the most important panels of Chauvet.  It contains twenty animals including rhinoceroses and horses.</p>
Probably the Earliest Extensive Collection of Paintings
(Circa 32,000 BCE – 30,000 BCE)

Wild flax fibers discovered in Dzudzuana Cave. (View Larger)
Making Materials from Flax Fibers
(Circa 32,000 BCE – 28,000 BCE)

The 'Lion Man,' preserved in the Ulmer Museum in Ulm, Germany. (View a full-scale image.)
The Earliest Zoomorphic / Anthropomorphic Sculpture
(Circa 30,000 BCE)

<p>The " />
The Earliest Sculpture of a Horse
(Circa 30,000 BCE – 29,000 BCE)

The Venus of Dolní Věstonice. (View Larger)
The Oldest Known Ceramic Figurine
(29,000 BCE – 25,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Some of the Earliest Tools for Sewing Garments
(Circa 28,000 BCE – 21,000 BCE)

The Ishango Bone, Possibly One of the Oldest Calendars
(25,000 BCE – 20,000 BCE)

A modern replica of the Venus of Lespugue. (View Larger)
The Earliest Representation of Spun Thread
(25,000 BCE)

The Venus of Willendorf. (View Larger)
The Venus of Willendorf
(Circa 24,000 BCE – 22,000 BCE)

The Venus of Brassempouy. (View Larger)
One of the Earliest Known Realistic Representations of a Human Face
(Circa 23,000 BCE)

<p>Artist rendition of dwelling in Mezhirich, Poland, made of mammoth bones.  Source: Dolní Věstonice Museum.</p>
Perhaps the Oldest Surviving Architecture
(Circa 23,000 BCE – 12,000 BCE)

Cylcons
(Circa 18,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Pottery From Japan
(Circa 16,000 BCE)

'The Sorcerer' is one name for this cryptic painting found in the Trois Frères in France by Henri Breuil. Photocredit: Encyclopaedia Britannica(View Larger)
"The Sorcerer"
(Circa 12,000 BCE)

<p>Flutings at Rouffignac.  Both children and adults created cave art known as finger flutings in the French caverns of Rouffignac roughly 13,000 years ago.  Credit: Jessica Cooney / Leslie van Gelder).</p>
Pre-Historic Art Created by Children at the Cave of a Hundred Mammoths, Rouffignac
(Circa 11,000 BCE)

<p>Ice age carving of two reindeer swimming.  It is carved from the tip of a mammoth tusk and shows a female reindeer swimming ahead of a male reindeer.</p>
The Swimming Reindeer
(Circa 11,000 BCE)

<p>Spear thrower carved as a mammoth.  Source: The British Museum.</p>
The Mammoth Spear Thrower
(Circa 10,500 BCE)

The Holocene Interglacial Period Begins
(Circa 10,000 BCE)

Emmer wheat, one of the first domesticated crops. (View Larger)
The Eight Founding Crops of Domesticated Agriculture
(Circa 9,500 BCE)

The Göbekli Tepe, Turkist for 'Potbelly Hill,' is the oldest discovered structure for religious worship. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Human-Made Place of Worship
(Circa 9,500 BCE)

In Mesopotamia Neolithic Tokens are Developed for "Concrete" Counting
(Circa 8,000 BCE)

8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

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Domestication of the Aurochs, Ancestors of Domestic Cattle
(Circa 6,000 BCE)

<p>The remains of the settlement made of two-story houses near the town of Provadia.</p>
The Earliest Prehistoric Town in Europe
(Circa 4,700 BCE – 4,200 BCE)

The First Settlements in the Paris Basin
(Circa 4,200 BCE)

From National Geographic. (View Larger)
The Earliest Known Winery
(Circa 4,000 BCE)

One Theory of the Origins of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
(Circa 3,600 BCE – 3,200 BCE)

The Botai culture originated from the Akmola province of Kazakhstan, highlighted in green. (View Larger)
Horse Domestication Revolutionizes Transportation, Communication, and Warfare
(Circa 3,500 BCE)

The Areni-1 shoe. (View Larger)
The Oldest Known Well-Preserved Leather Shoe
(Circa 3,500 BCE)

<p>Model of Ötzi the Iceman in exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.</p>
The First Prehistoric Human Ever Found with his Everyday Clothing and Equipment
(Circa 3,300 BCE)

The Nebra Sky Disk. (View Larger)
The Nebra Sky Disk
(1,600 BCE)

300 BCE – 30 CE

The Foundation of Paris
(Circa 250 BCE)

1550 – 1600

The First Published Reference to Cave Art
(1575)

1800 – 1850

The First Genuine Human Fossil Discovered by a Scientist
(1823)

Genesis of the "Three-Age" System in Archaeology
(1836)

Pioneering Treatise on the Antiquity of Man
(1846 – 1849)

1850 – 1875

The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man
(January 1863)

Man's Place in Nature
(February 1863)

Probably the Earliest Paper on Paleolithic Mobiliary Art
(1864)

Pre-Historic Times
(1865)

Human Origins Will be Found in Africa
(1871)

2005 – 2010

Scientists Sequence Woolly Mammoth Genome--the First of an Extinct Animal
(November 19, 2008)