THRESHOLD 8

THRESHOLD 3
THE MODERN
NEW CHEMICAL ELEMENTS THRESHOLD 7 REVOLUTION
THRESHOLD 4
THRESHOLD 6 AGRICULTURE
THRESHOLD 2 EARTH & THE SOLAR SYSTEM COLLECTIVE LEARNING
THE STARS LIGHT UP
THRESHOLD 5
THRESHOLD 1 LIFE ON EARTH
THE BIG BANG

13.8
billion
years ago 4 billion
years ago 1 billion
years ago 1 million
years ago 50,000 years ago 5000 years ago 1000 years ago today
Quaternary
Quaternary Holocene
Quaternary Pleistocene Holocene
Pleistocene Neolithic
Phanerozoic Quaternary
Middle Paleolithic Upper Paleolithic (Late Stone Age) Neolithic
Archean Proterozoic Phanerozoic
Lower Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) Middle Paleolithic
Cenozoic
Pliocene Pleistocene Thousands of years ago
1000 CE 1100 CE 1200 CE 1300 CE 1400 CE 1500 CE 1600 CE 1700 CE 1800 CE 1900 CE
The Primordial Era epochs of the first million years The Stelliferous Era stars & galaxies continuously forming and evolving Eoarchean Paleoarchean Mesoarchean Neoarchean Paleoproterozoic Mesoproterozoic Neoproterozoic Palaeozoic Mesozoic time of the dinosaurs Cenozoic
Thousands of years ago
time of ancient life
Neogene Quaternary

3000 BCE 2600 BCE 2200 BCE 1800 BCE 1400 BCE 1000 BCE 600 BCE 200 BCE 200 CE 600 CE
The Stelliferous Era stars & galaxies continuously forming and evolving
Grand Unification Electroweak Quark Hadron Lepton Photon Dark Ages Siderian Rhyacian Orosirian Statherian Calymmian Ectasian Stenian Tonian Cryogenian Ediacaran Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Paleogene Millions of years ago
Millions of years ago
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10
Reionization
Time after the Big Bang

0 seconds 10 -40
seconds 10 -35
seconds 10 -30
seconds 10 -25
seconds 10 -20
seconds 1 quadrillionth
of a second 1 billionth
of a second 1 thousandth
of a second 1 second 1 day 300 years 32 million years
Millions of years after the Big Bang
100 300 500 700 900
Billions of years after the Big Bang
1.1 1.7
Billions of years ago
4.65 4.60 4.55 4.50 4.45 4.40 4.35 4.30 4.25
Billions of years ago
4.0 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1
Millions of years ago
1000 950 900 850 800 750 700 650 600
Millions of years ago
550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 20 16 12 8 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100
Fundamental Forces Fundamental Forces Fundamental Forces
ca 75,000 ca 45,000 ca 11,000, Japan
ASIA & AUSTRALASIA
Electromagnetic Force

ASIA & AUSTRALASIA

Electromagnetic Force Electromagnetic Force
Bacteria Bacteria Bacteria
1313, China
Weak Nuclear Force
Weak Nuclear Force Strong Nuclear Force Weak Nuclear Force Bacteria
Modern humans Modern humans Clay pots made
Strong Nuclear Force Gravity Strong Nuclear Force Last Universal Common Anscestor (LUCA)
reach S.E. Asia reach Australia
Gravity Gravity Early Simple-celled Life Forms Archea (single-celled micro-organisms) Archea ca 6500, China Printing with wooden
ca 70,000 Rice cultivated ca 2900, India
movable type
Archea
Attributes Attributes
of the Universe of the Universe Mitochondria (for respiration) Eukaryotes (complex cells) Eukaryotes Eukaryotes Multicelled Organisms Fish Modern humans
ca 4000, Ukraine
Cotton cultivated AUSTRALASIA European Colonialism Australia / New Zealand
reach Australia CHINA Xia Shang Dynasty Zhou Dynasty Early Imperial Era
Fish
Horses domesticated ca 3500, China
SIZE: SIZE: SIZE:
Fungi Amphibians

ca 4000, Thailand Plow invented KOREA Gojoseon Proto Three Kingdoms Three Kingdoms / Silla & Balhae Song, Liao, Jin & Western Xia Dynasties Yuan Ming Dynasty Qing Dynasty China
Smaller than an atom Size of a
grapefruit ~10 25
meters
Amphibians
Bronze made
Goryeo Joseon Dynasty Korea
(The number 1 followed by 25 zeroes) Chloroplasts (for photosynthesis) Plants (Green Algae) Insects Early Reptiles Reptiles
TEMPERATURE:

Near Infinity ~10

TEMPERATURE:
14
TEMPERATURE:

~10,000,000,000°
TEMPERATURE:

~3000°
TEMPERATURE OF
UNIVERSE TODAY: JAPAN Yayoi Period Kafun, Asuka & Nara Heian
(billions of billions of billions of degrees)
degrees Kelvin K K
~3° K

INDIA Indus Valley States Rigvedic Period Late Vedic Magadha Maurya Empire Early Middle Kingdoms
DENSITY: Red Algae Land Plants Dinosaurs Extinction Reptiles

Heian Period / Warrior Clans Kamakura Shogunate Ashikaga Shogunate Feuding States Oda Clan Tokugawa Shogunate Imperial Japan Japan
About 100,000 times
denser than stone

Birds

2637, China 850, China ca 100, China

DENSITY:
Everything in the Universe
is packed into a tiny dot
Pterosaurs Extinction First year of Natural gas used Astronomers begin Chola Dynasty / Small Hindu States Delhi Sultanate Mughal Empire Maratha Empire British India India
Birds ca 6000, Scandinavia Chinese calendar for lighting to use negative numbers
Sleds used
Mammal-like Reptiles Early Mammals Mammals
1155, China ca 1200, China 1395, China 1574, China 1602, China 1736, India

The Anthropocene
About 200 million About 1 billion

ca 5000, Italy
Porcelain A symbol for zero 365.25 day length First Chinese Printed atlas Rubber discovered
years after Big Bang: years after Big Bang:

The first
The first stars begin to light up The first galaxies form

EUROPE
Early Primates
Mirrors made
Asteroid impact
triggers extinction
Mammals from obsidian is made established of solar year calculated printed book of the world
Major Events
ca 3000, the Aegean around Greece ca 1500, Minoa ca 1000, Italy ca 1050, Greece IRELAND Celts
? Threshold 1: The basic building The Universe Plasma: Hydrogen and helium nuclei Recombination
Olives and grapes cultivated Bathrooms with False teeth are Ironworking

eukaryotes
The Big Bang blocks of matter form, cools enough to in a sea of unattached electrons (~377,000 years after Big Bang): 4.56 billion years ago: Over the course of about 100 million
Hominoids (Apes) Hominids (Great Apes)
1242, England 1457, Hungary 1622, England 1632, Germany 1905, Germany
including quarks allow quarks to The Universe is cool enough Our Sun forms when a years after the formation of the sun:

GREAT BRITAIN England / Scotland

EUROPE
giant cloud of atoms Planets form as material within a particular
running water made from gold introduced
combine into protons The leptons, such as for H and He nuclei to capture
and neutrons electrons, forming the simplest collapses under the orbit is swept into larger bodies
electrons and related pressure of gravity,
possible stable atoms

Gunpowder made First four-wheeled passenger coach Slide rule invented First modern observatory Theory of Relativity
particles form heating the center

WEST Visigoths
enough to start fusion Smaller rocky planets appear close to the
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
(~380,000 years after Big Bang):
Sun and larger gassy planets appear farther out
ca 3000, Greek Islands
Marble sculptures made
Because the positive charges

Celts Ireland
of protons were canceled Our Moon was likely formed when an object
by the negative charges of
electrons in the newly formed
atoms, the Universe becomes
the size of Mars crashed into the early
Earth, gouging huge chunks out of it AUSTRASIA Frankish Kingdom 1686, England 1928, London
electrically neutral, allowing
Hominines (Bipedal Apes
photons to flow, which creates
the CMB that we can detect today
CENTRAL Vandals / Huns England / Scotland Isaac Newton advances modern physics First antibiotics
Dark Ages:

ITALY

Global connection
After photons were released as CMB,

Umayyads / Spanish States & Caliphates / Portugal Spain / Portugal

nothing in the Universe emitted light
until the formation of stars around
200 million years after the Big Bang Chimpanzees
NORTH AFRICA & LEVANT Natufian SOUTH Minoan States Mycenae Greece City States Hellenistic Roman Empire Byzantine Empire
Gorillas Homo Erectus
MESOPOTAMIA
EAST Holy Roman Empire France

Photosynthesis
Hominines Homo sapiens (Humans)
Monkeys
Orangutans
ca 10,000, Palestine
Houses built from
ca 6500
Cattle domesticated
ca 5000, Egypt
Copper smelted Germany / Austria / Switzerland
Lemurs
Gibbons
Homo habilis Extinction
sun-dried bricks
ca 5200, Iran ca 4400, Egypt NORTH AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST Kingdom of Sicily / Small States / Papal States / Ottomans Italy
Neanderthal ca 10,000 Wine made Cloth woven
Insects
Australopithecus Dogs domesticated on looms ANATOLIA Hittite Empire Syro-Hittite States Persian Seleucids Roman Empire Byzantine Empire
Small States
Extinction
Monkeys
ca 8000
ca 5000, N. Africa
Empire Ottoman Empire Greece
Farmers grow millet ca 4236, Egypt
Fungi

Goats and sheep 365-day

Egypt Old Kingdom Middle New Kingdom Late Period
Lemurs
domesticated calendar devised Byzantine Empire Soviet Bloc / Poland / Hungary / Romania / Bulgaria
Land Plants
Sumer Akkad Ur Old Babylon Assyria / Babylonia Parthia Sassanid Empire Abbasids
Plants Plants Insects

Alveolates (including Dinoflagellates, such as marine plankton)

Homo sapiens (Humans) ca 3500,
Mesopotamia
2630 - 2611 BCE
First Pyramid in Egypt
1750, Babylon
Astronomers
1350, Egypt
Iron welded
1000, Phoenicia
Alphabet developed
ca 30, Syria
The technique of NORTH AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
The
Red Algal Plastids
Fungi

Life appears
The wheel list planets & stars glassblowing discovered
2500, Pakistan 1900, Mesopotamia
invented Turkey
Heterokonts (including Diatoms, a major group of algae)
Land Plants Clay pipes used ca 1650, Egypt Irrigation used to Byzantine Empire Ottomans Ottoman Empire
Homo Erectus Extinction Neanderthal ca 3100, Egypt as drains Mathematicians solve water crops
Fatimids Mamluks Egypt
Red Algae Red Algae

Big Bang
Plants Hieroglyphs simple equations
ca 2300, Mesopotamia
developed
The earliest known maps
Abbasids Mongol Empire Safavids Persia Iran / Iraq

Multicelled
Alveolates

Heterokonts
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1105, Middle East 1550, Middle East
Cubic equations Ottomans use aqueducts

organisms
Red Algae
EAST Kush Meroe Axum Ethiopia are solved to supply city with water

Our Solar System forms

WEST Ghana 1150, Middle East
The first celestial
almanac compiled

Hydrogen and SOUTH AMERICA

helium form Hominids Early humans and ca 4000, the Andes

Potatoes domesticated
SOUTH-CENTRAL MEXICO Mayan Civilization Pre-classic
MEXICAN GULF COAST Olmec Culture Teotihuacan
Classic SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Cambrian appear collective learning OAXACA VALLEY Zapotec States Kingdom of Ethiopia

Stars die and create Explosion ANDEAN HIGHLANDS OF PERU

NORTHERN PERU
Chavin Culture
Moche
Tiahuanaco
Ghana Empire
Songhai Empire
Mali Empire Dendi Kingdom Independent
African States

heavier elements ca 8500

NORTH AMERICA
ca 3000 ca 2000
SOUTH AMERICA
ca 1450
Inca construct a 20,000 mile long road system
1709, Brazil
Model hot air balloon made

The first stars

Stone arrowheads made NORTHEAST & MIDWEST Hopewell Culture Native American
Baskets and blankets made Copper mined
OHIO VALLEY Adena Culture Tribal Peoples Mayan Civilizatiaon Post-classic Spanish & Portuguese Independent

and galaxies Asteroid impact FOUR CORNERS Anasazi

SONORA DESERT Hohokam
Toltecs Aztecs
Colonies Latin American
States

First brains develop triggers extinction SOUTHWEST & NORTHERN MEXICO Mogollon
ARIZONA & BAJA CALIFORNIA
Chimu Inca

Cities and states NORTH AMERICA Canada

Native American British Colonies USA
Tribal Peoples

Life on land Dinosaurs and Anasazi

mammals appear Agricultural

Hohokam
Mogollon

communities appear
Patayan

1000 ca 1200 1607 1876 1903

Vikings establish Anasazi use a First American ship Telephone First airplane
a colony calendar with four seasons constructed invented
1969
1879 Man walks on moon
Light bulb
invented 1969
Beginnings of
the internet