Chronological sequence of major events that contributed to our understanding of evolution

By Davidaki
  • 4000 BCE

    Beginning of life

    The first may have developed in. undersea alkaline vents
  • Period: 4000 BCE to

    Chronological sequence of biological events

    biology
  • 3500 BCE

    Oldest fossils of single celled organisms

    The oldest single-celled fossils were traced back to this date
  • 3460 BCE

    Single-celled organisms may be feeding on methane at this point

    some single-celled organisms may be feeding on methane
  • 3400 BCE

    fossilised microbes in rock formations

    rock formations in western australia, that some researchers claim are fossilised microbes date from this period
  • 3000 BCE

    Viruses are present

    Viruses are present at this point
  • 2400 BCE

    Great Oxidation Event

    poisonous waste produced by photosynthetic cyanobacteria - oxygen - starts to build up in the atmosphere
  • 2300 BCE

    Snowball Earth

    Earth freezes over
  • 2150 BCE

    Undisputed fossil evidence of cyanobacteria

    blah blah b lah
  • 2000 BCE

    Eukaryotic cells

    this is when they are believed to have finally come into being
  • 1500 BCE

    eukaryotic cells divide into three groups

    fungi and animals
  • 900 BCE

    multicellular life

    The first multicellular life developed around this time
  • 800 BCE

    Multicellular animals undergo first splits

    They finally divide
  • 770 BCE

    The planet freezes over again

  • 730 BCE

    The ctenophores (comb jellies) split from the other multicellular animals

  • 680 BCE

    The ancestor of cnidarians breaks away from the other animals

  • 630 BCE

    Some animals evolve bilateral symmetry for the first time

  • 590 BCE

    The Bilateria undergo a profound evolutionary split

  • 580 BCE

    The earliest known fossils of cnidarians