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Control of Fire（Paleolithic rock-art silhouettes）

AccelerationFour-dimensional view1 million years agoTaming Fire

1 million years ago

Control of Fire

Evidence from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa shows that the genus Homo was using fire at least about 1 million years ago.

Art style · Paleolithic rock-art silhouettes

Origin of Life on EarthDinosaurs and MammalsAI Agents
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Civilization metrics

Each sparkline shows the documented history of a metric on a logarithmic time axis. The dot marks the selected moment.

Kardashev index

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No reliable data yet

World population

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No reliable data yet · data begins 12,000 years ago

Total human primary energy power

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No reliable data yet · data begins 12,000 years ago

Compute per dollar

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No reliable data yet · data begins 1945

Fastest delivery time for a message from London to New York

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No reliable data yet · data begins 1620

Fastest speed reached by humans

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No reliable data yet · data begins 302,000 years ago

Near this moment

The eight closest milestones. Select a title to jump there.

  1. 7 million years agoLife

    Sahelanthropus tchadensis lived about 7 million years ago, near the start of the human lineage. Source

  2. 3.3 million years agoHumanity

    Knapped stone tools about 3.3 million years old were unearthed at Lomekwi, Kenya. Source

  3. 3.2 million years agoLife

    The Australopithecus afarensis fossil known as "Lucy" shows that early hominins already walked upright. Source

  4. 2.9 million years agoHumanity

    The earliest systematic stone-tool tradition, beginning about 2.9 million years ago. Source

  5. 2 million years agoHumanity

    Homo erectus had body proportions close to modern humans and is generally regarded as the first hominin to leave Africa. Source

  6. 1.76 million years agoHumanity

    Symmetrical bifacial hand axes appeared about 1.76 million years ago, as toolmaking turned to deliberate design. Source

  7. 1 million years agoEnergy

    Evidence from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa shows that the genus Homo was using fire at least about 1 million years ago. Source

  8. 315,000 years agoHumanity

    Early Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, date to about 315,000 years ago. Source

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Scenes across eras

Each era illustrated in its own style.

Every timeline entry cites its source. Metrics interpolate logarithmically between sourced data points. Forecasts include institutional and community views, and attributed site scenarios; years are not guaranteed realization dates. Illustrations are AI-generated in each era's style.