Today's Dates to Memorize

[DougGraves]

I plan on making this an ongoing thing (which means I will probably do it once or twice and then forget about it).  A very short list of dates to memorize on some nerdy topic.

 

Starting with the history of life:

 

• 4 billion years ago - Single Celled Life
• 2 billion years ago - Multi-celled Life
• 1 billion years ago - plants
• .6 billion years ago - animals

 

So starting 4 billion years ago roughly halving the time remaining for singled cell life, multi-celled life, plants, and animals.

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

12 hours ago, DougGraves said:

So starting 4 billion years ago roughly halving the time remaining for singled cell life, multi-celled life, plants, and animals.

 

Bet it was a Thursday.

 

[DougGraves]

Today the evolution of humans

 

• 4.2 million years ago - Australopithecus
• 2.1 million years ago - Homo Habilis, the first Homo species
• 2 million years ago - Homo Erectus
• 250,000 years ago - Homo Neanderthalensis
• 200,000 years ago - Homo Sapiens

 

Australophithecus were making stone tools 3.3 million years ago.  There is also signs of fire use by Australophithecus 1.4 million years ago.  So making tools and using fire predates even the first Homo species.

[DougGraves]

Mesoamerican Cultures

 

• Olmec 1200-300 BCE First major stone cities in the Americas
• Zapotec 500 BCE - 900 CE
• Mayan 250 - 950 CE
• Toltec 900-1100 CE
• Aztec 1345-1521 CE

I never think of Mesoamerican cities being as old as 1200 BCE.  

 

No easy way to memorize these with  2 dates for each.