Fossils & the geological timescale

• Precambrian (3.8 billion to 570 million years ago)
• *Bacteria and blue-green algae
• Cambrian (570 to 500 million years ago)
• *First invertebrates
• Ordovician (500 to 440 million years ago)
• Silurian (440 to 410 million years ago)
• *First land plants
• *First land invertebrates
• Devonian (410 to 365 million years ago)
• *First ferns and seed plants
• *First insects
• *First amphibians
• Carboniferous (365 to 290 million years ago)
• *First flying insects
• *First reptiles
• Permian (290 to 245 million years ago)
• *Extinction of trilobites
• Triassic (245 to 210 million years ago)
• *First dinosaurs
• *First mammals
• Jurassic (210 to 140 million years ago)
• *First birdss
• Cretaceous (140 to 65 million years ago)
• *First flowering plantss
• *First primates
• *Extinction of dinosaurs
• *Extinction of ammonites
• Paleocene (65 to 55 million years ago)
• *Diversification and spreading of mammals
• Eocene (55 to 38 million years ago)
• Oligocene (38 to 25 million years ago)
• *First grass
• Miocene (25 to 5 million years ago)
• Pliocene (5 to 2 million years ago)
• *First hominids