When was 2.5 million years ago

See this event in other timelines: Prehistory Science. See this event in other timelines: Prehistory. All rights reserved. Sign in to annotate. Delete Cancel Save. Cancel Save. Publisher: HistoryWorld. The earth's surface settles into a heaving turmoil of rock and water Go to structure of the Earth in Visual English Dictionary 1 ed.

Single-celled water creatures, such as algae, begin the 2-billion-year process of evolving into slightly more complex forms of life Go to endosymbiont theory in A Dictionary of Biology 6 ed. Sponges and jellyfish drift in the sea, to be joined later by more purposeful shrimps and lobsters Go to Ediacaran fossils in A Dictionary of Earth Sciences 3 ed.

The earliest known creature with a skeleton evolves as a form of fish Go to Ordovician in A Dictionary of Earth Sciences 3 ed. Plants, previously living only in the seas and rivers, begin to establish themselves on land Go to Psilophytales in A Dictionary of Plant Sciences 2 ed. Insects become the first creatures capable of living their full life span out of the water - and the first to master flight Go to insects in The Oxford Companion to the Earth 1 ed.

Amphibians develop lungs, enabling them to live on land as well as in the water Go to Amphibia in A Dictionary of Biology 6 ed. Reptiles develop evolutionary advantages for adaptation to a wide range of environments Go to Reptilia in A Dictionary of Biology 6 ed. The entire land surface of the earth merges into a single continent, known as Pangaea, which after about 50 million years splits in two Go to Pangaea in A Dictionary of Zoology 3 ed. The dinosaurs dominate the planet in a way that no previous creature has been able to Go to dinosaur in World Encyclopedia 1 ed.

Mammals begin to make their appearance Go to mammal in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. Archaeopteryx has the skeletal structure of a dinosaur and the feathers of a bird, intermediate between the two species Go to Archaeopteryx in A Dictionary of Genetics 7 ed.

Primitive birds begin to feature in the fossil record Go to Archaeopteryx in A Dictionary of Genetics 7 ed. In a very short space of time the dinosaurs die out, for reasons as yet uncertain Go to dinosaur in World Encyclopedia 1 ed.

See this event in other timelines: Science Life sciences Mammals evolve in many new forms on land and in the water, using opportunities made possible by the extinction of the dinosaurs Go to mammal in World Encyclopedia 1 ed.

A primate of this period, at ease both in the trees and on the ground, is probably the common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans Go to Simiiformes in A Dictionary of Zoology 3 ed. Various species of ape develop the habit of walking upright on two feet Go to Paranthropus in A Dictionary of Zoology 3 ed.

Certain primates, in eastern and southern Africa, are by now sufficiently like humans to be classed as hominids Go to hominid in A Dictionary of Biology 6 ed. Ardi, the earliest known individual of partially human type or hominid , is of the species Ardipithecus , in the Awash valley region of Ethiopia Go to Ardi in New Oxford American Dictionary 3 ed. Two or three hominid individuals, probably Australopithecus Afarensis , walk upright through volcanic ash at Laetoli, 30 miles south of Olduvai Gorge, and their footprints are preserved within subsequent ash deposits Go to Australopithecus in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology 2 ed.

A female of the species Australopithecus Afarensis nicknamed Lucy when her skeleton is found , lives in the Afar Depression in Ethiopia within 50 miles of where her predecessor Ardi was unearthed Go to Australopithecine in A Dictionary of Genetics 7 ed. Neanderthals appear and are found across Europe, from Britain in the west to Iran in the east, until they become extinct with the advent of modern humans 28, years ago.

Our own species Homo sapiens appears on the scene — and shortly after begins to migrate across Asia and Europe. Oldest modern human remains are two skulls found in Ethiopia that date to this period. Average human brain volume is cm 3. Mitochondrial Eve, the direct ancestor to all living people today, may have been living in Africa. Humans possibly capable of speech.

Oldest cave art. They stand just over 1 metre tall, and have brains similar in size to chimpanzees, yet have advanced stone tools. Stone Age ends and Bronze Age begins. Quaternary 2 million years ago - Present characterizted by the appearence of humans. Tertiary 66 - 2 million years ago. Mesozoic - 66 million years ago "The Age of Dinosaurs". Cretaceous - 66 million years ago. Jurassic - million years ago. They cooked their prey, including woolly mammoths, deer and bison, using controlled fire.

They also fished and collected berries, fruit and nuts. Ancient humans in the Paleolithic period were also the first to leave behind art. They used combinations of minerals, ochres, burnt bone meal and charcoal mixed into water, blood, animal fats and tree saps to etch humans, animals and signs.

They also carved small figurines from stones, clay, bones and antlers. The end of this period marked the end of the last Ice Age , which resulted in the extinction of many large mammals and rising sea levels and climate change that eventually caused man to migrate.

They get their name from the distinctive mounds middens of shells and other kitchen debris they left behind. During the Mesolithic period about 10, B. They often lived nomadically in camps near rivers and other bodies of water.