Geological terms – How long ago?
| Mesozoic | 248m to 65m years ago | Sub divided | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triassic |
248 million to 206 million years ago
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| Jurassic |
206 m to 144 m years
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| Cretaceous |
144 m to 65 m years
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| Cenozoic | 65 m years ago to today | Sub divided | |
| Tertiary | 65 m to 1.8 m years ago | Palaeocene | 65 million to 55 million years ago |
| Eocene | 55 m 34 m | ||
| Oligocene | 34 m 24 m | ||
| Miocene | 24 m 5 m | ||
| Pliocene | 5 m 1.8 m | ||
| Quaternary | 1.8m years ago to today | Pleistocene | 1.8 million to 10,000 years ago |
| Holocene | 10,000 years to today |
| (Anthropological, rather than Geological terms) | |
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Lower Paleolithic
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2.5 m to 200,000 years ago. First stone tools used by hominids |
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Middle Paleolithic
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200,000 to 40,000 years ago – Homo Sapiens using flaked stone tools. |
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Upper Paleolithic
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40,000 to 10,000 years ago. Language thought to have developed in this time |
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Mesolithic
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10,000 years to when farming started around 5 – 6000 years ago
(Middle Stone age) |
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Neolithic
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From the start of farming to the start of the use of metal tools, say from 5-6000 to 4000 years ago
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Bronze Age
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2200BC to 700BC
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Iron Age
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700BC to the Roman Conquest.
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