Subject · 315,000 years ago to now
The long human story
Three lessons on the whole of human time: how long it is, the oldest pictures people made, and the moment some of them started writing things down.
- 315,000 years ago: the oldest of us found so far
- 67,800 years ago: the first hands
- about 5,300 years ago: writing
Three lessons
Oldest first.
Every lesson is written for anyone. Choose a course and the lessons that match it are marked.
National curriculum, Key Stage 2: “the achievements of the earliest civilizations”
The curriculum asks for an overview of where and when the first civilisations appeared. The writing lesson is that overview; the other two set the scene.
We are not an exam board. Check the details against your own course.
No GCSE or A level history course covers this subject yet. Read it for the big picture: it puts every other subject in its place.
No GCSE or A level history course covers this subject yet. Read it for the big picture: it puts every other subject in its place.
Lesson 1 · 315,000 years ago to now
How long is human history?
How much of the human story was ever written down?
Our species’ whole story on one line at true scale, zooming in step by step.
Lesson 2 · At least 67,800 years ago
The first hands
How can anyone tell how old a cave painting is?
Hand stencils are among the oldest pictures people made. How a crust of stone dates them.
Lesson 3 · 3400 BC to 200 BC
Writing, invented four times
Was writing invented once, or more than once?
Writing began separately in at least four places. Where, when, and what the first writers wrote.
Fits: Primary (KS2)
After writing
Writing is where this subject ends and the others begin. Roman Britain starts with a people who wrote things down, arriving among people who mostly did not.
Where experts disagree: are the oldest fossils really us?
Yes, an early form of our species.The faces and teeth of the people from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, about 315,000 years old, fall within the range of people today. The team that described them calls them early members of Homo sapiens.1
Not quite, say others.Their braincases are longer and lower than ours, as the same team notes, and some researchers would rather call them close relatives of our species. Either way, the line on this page would only get a little shorter. Read more.1
Sources for this page
Every number on this page comes from one of these. How we check.
Last reviewed 11 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
- Hublin, J.-J., Ben-Ncer, A. and others (2017). New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 546, 289–292. doi.org/10.1038/nature22336Used for: The Jebel Irhoud fossils as early members of our species, and the debate around them. Checked 11 November 2026.