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Hadean Time
4.5-3.8 bya
Earth Created		Precambrian Time (4,500 to 544 mya) 
Archaean Eon
first life
3.8-2.5 bya 		Proterozoic Eon
soft-bodied organisms
2.5 bya - 544 mya		Phanero- zoic Eon
Multicellular life
Eras
(bya=Billion Years Ago; mya=Million Years Ago) 		Paleopro-
terozoic
(2500 to 1600 mya)
blue-green algae 		Mesopro-
terozoic
(1600 to 1000 mya)
First land fungi. Giant Continent Rodinia created. 		N   e
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p   z
r   o
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Neoproterozoic Era(1000 to 544 mya)      
Macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied organisms.
multicellular animals. Continent of Rodinia breaks up.
 Phanerozoic Eon (544 mya to present)
Paleozoic Era
(544-245 mya)
Invertibrates; Supercontinent of Pangaea created.		Mesozoic Era
(245-65mya)
Reptiles; Breakup of Pangaea begins		Cenozoic Era
(65 mya-)
Mammals
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 T
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(245- 208 mya)		 J
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(208- 146 mya)		 C
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(146-65 mya)		 T
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(65- 1.8 mya)
Quaternary Period
(1.8 mya to today)
Homo erectus and Homo sapiens
Books:
"Big History", Cynthia Brown
"Maps of Time", by David Christian

Links:
Geological Time
Evolution

World History/ History of Man
Mass Extinctions

last updated 1 Jun 2005