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Recent (Holocene) Epoch
End of last Ice Age; rise of human civilization -
Period: to
Phanerozoic Eon
Contains The Cenozoic, Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras -
Period: to
Cenozoic Era
Contains The Quaternary and Tertiary Period -
Period: to
Quaternary Period
Contains Recent (Holocene) Epoch and Pleistocene Epoch -
Period: to
Masozoic Era
Contains Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic Period -
Pleistocene Epoch
Ice Age; mass extinctions; rise of man -
Jurassic Period
Giant dinosaurs; early birds; first mammals -
Miocene Epoch
Rise of grazing mammals -
Proterozoic Eon
Simple multicellular sea creatures develop; algae and plankton develop; eukaryotic cells develop -
Triassic Period
First dinosaurs; rise of mammal-like reptiles -
Permian Period
Modern insects; reptiles spread; evergreens; extinction of trilobites -
Period: to
Paleozoic Era
Contains Permian, Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician and Cambrian Period -
Pennsylvanian Period
Giant insects; first reptiles -
Oligocene Epoch
Primitive apes; whales; first modern mammals -
MIssisipian Period
Amphibians spread; sharks and bony fish; winged insects -
Archean Eon
Earth becomes habitable; spontaneous generation of first cells; rise of bacteria and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) -
Hadean Eon
Formation of earth (uninhabitable) -
Devonian Period
First amphibians; freshwater fish; wingless insects -
Silurian Period
Land colonized by arthropods and plants -
Ordovician Period
Trilobites abundant; vertebrates increase -
Pliocene Epoch
Peak of mammals; modern invertebrates -
Period: to
Tertiary Period
Contains Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene, Eocene, and Paleocene Epoch -
Cambrian Period
Sudden explosion of life; trilobites dominant; rise of other marine invertebrates; some vertebrates -
Eocene Epoch
First Horses -
Paleocene Epoch
Early mammals become dominant; rise of modern birds -
Cretaceous Period
Mass extinctions (including dinosaurs); flowering plants appear