Human history · 315,000 years to today

Three hundred thousand years of us.

History at its true size. The places it happened, how long ago, and the evidence for every claim.

See it to scaleStart with a place
The oldest known fossils of our species. Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, about 315,000 years ago.The oldest dated hand stencil. Liang Metanduno, Muna, Indonesia, at least 67,800 years ago.A painted scene with people and a pig. Leang Karampuang, Sulawesi, Indonesia, at least 51,200 years ago.Hand stencils in Europe. El Castillo, Cantabria, Spain, at least 37,300 years ago.Great stone enclosures. Göbekli Tepe, Türkiye, from about 9600 BC.Writing, in Mesopotamia. Uruk, Iraq, 3400 to 3200 BC.Writing, in China. Anyang, China, about 1250 BC.Maya writing. San Bartolo, Guatemala, about 300 to 200 BC.A birthday invitation. Vindolanda, Britain, AD 97 to 105.Hadrian’s Wall. Northern Britain, from about AD 122.
Places in these pages, appearing oldest first. Coastlines as they are today; Natural Earth, Equal Earth projection, which keeps areas true.

The whole story, at its true length

One line, from the oldest known fossils of our species to now.

300,000250,000200,000150,000100,00050,000315,000 years agoNowEverything ever written down300,000200,000100,000315,000 years agoNowEverything ever written down

315,000 years since the oldest fossils known so far.

5,300 years since the first writing.

1.7% of our story has any written record at all. The rest we know from what people left behind.

Walk the line, step by step

Start with a place

Each one opens at its true size, with what was found there.

50 metres
The last stone fort at Vindolanda, 154 by 93 metres, against a football pitch drawn at the same scale.

Fort · Northumberland, Britain

Vindolanda

A Roman fort just south of Hadrian’s Wall, rebuilt again and again on the same spot. The wet ground kept what usually rots away, including letters written in ink on thin slips of wood.

“I give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us.”

Claudia Severa to Sulpicia Lepidina, AD 97 to 105
Visit Vindolanda

Lessons

Short, visual, and sourced line by line.

LessonWhenWhat you’ll see
How long is human history?315,000 years ago to nowOne line at true scale that zooms in, step by step, to the present.
The first handsAt least 67,800 years agoHow a stencil is made, how a crust of stone dates it, and a map of the oldest.
Writing, invented four times3400 BC to 200 BCThe four places writing began, on a map and a shared timeline.

How we know

Every claim says how sure anyone can be.

Evidence
Found, measured or written down at the time, and published by the people who found it.
Informed
Reasoned from similar places or later records. A good guess, and we say so.
Debated
Experts disagree. We set out each side and who holds it, and don’t pick a winner where the evidence hasn’t.
How we check our facts