COSMIC CALANDAR

Big Bang

Date	bya	Event
1 Jan	13.8	Big Bang, as seen through cosmic background radiation
11 May	8.8	Milky Way Galaxy formed
1 Sep	4.57	Sun formed (planets and Earth's moon soon thereafter)
16 Sep	4.0	Oldest rocks known on Earth

Evolution of life on Earth

Date	bya	Event
21 Sep	3.8	first life (prokaryotes)
12 Oct	3	photosynthesis
29 Oct	2.4	Oxygenation of atmosphere
8 Nov	2	complex cells (eukaryotes)
5 Dec	1	first multicellular life
14 Dec	0.67	simple animals
14 Dec	0.55	arthropods (ancestors of insects, arachnids)
18 Dec	0.5	fish and proto-amphibians
20 Dec	0.45	land plants
21 Dec	0.4	insects and seeds
22 Dec	0.36	amphibians
23 Dec	0.3	reptiles
26 Dec	0.2	mammals
27 Dec	0.15	birds
28 Dec	0.13	flowers
30 Dec	0.065	Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, non-avian dinosaurs die out

Human evolution

Date / time	mya	Event
30 Dec	65	Primates
31 Dec, 06:05	15	Apes
31 Dec, 14:24	15	hominids
31 Dec, 22:24	2.5	primitive humans and stone tools
31 Dec, 23:44	0.4	Domestication of fire
31 Dec, 23:52	0.2	Anatomically modern humans
31 Dec, 23:55	0.11	Beginning of most recent glacial period
31 Dec, 23:58	0.035	sculpture and painting
31 Dec, 23:59:32	0.012	Agriculture

History begins

Date / time	kya	Event
31 Dec, 23:59:47	5.5	First writing (marks end of prehistory and beginning of history), beginning of the Bronze Age
31 Dec, 23:59:48	5.0	First dynasty of Egypt, Early Dynastic period in Sumer, Astronomy
31 Dec, 23:59:49	4.5	Alphabet, Akkadian Empire, Wheel
31 Dec, 23:59:51	4.0	Code of Hammurabi, Middle Kingdom of Egypt
31 Dec, 23:59:52	3.5	Mycenaean Greece; Olmec civilization; Iron Age in Near East, India, and Europe; founding of Carthage
31 Dec, 23:59:53	3.0	Kingdom of Israel, ancient Olympic games
31 Dec, 23:59:54	2.5	Buddha, Confucius, Qin Dynasty, Classical Greece, Ashokan Empire, Vedas completed, Euclidean geometry, Archimedean physics, Roman Republic
31 Dec, 23:59:55	2.0	Ptolemaic astronomy, Roman Empire, Christ, invention of numeral 0
31 Dec, 23:59:56	1.5	Muhammad, Maya civilization, Song Dynasty, rise of Byzantine Empire
31 Dec, 23:59:58	1.0	Mongol Empire, Crusades, Christopher Columbus voyages to the Americas, Renaissance in Europe