Early human ancestry
About 7 million years ago to 315,000 years ago
Our ancestors and relatives before our own species: other kinds of human, the first stone tools, and the first use of fire.
The twelve eras, each step to the right ten times closer to today.
Before our species
This era belongs to our ancestors and relatives, before Homo sapiens. It sits outside the human timeline on this site. The bones, tools and changing world of this time are told on our companion site, Our Eons, which follows the whole life of the Earth.
Our own story starts in the next era: Our species and the Old Stone Age.