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

Animals

Chordates

Tetrapoda

Synapsida and Mammalia

Primates

Hominidae

Homo

Homo sapiens

See also

• Evolution of human intelligence

• Human evolution

• Recent human evolution

• Genetic history of Pleistocene humans

• List of human evolution fossils

• Human history

• Natural history

• History of Earth

• Timeline of prehistory

• Timeline of the evolutionary history of life

• Chronology of the universe

• List of timelines

• Ancient Astronauts

References

External links

• . From Curiosity documentary series

• Palaeos

• 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).