Ascent of Man

A Chronology on the "Ascent of Mankind"

Humankind, as we know ourselves have been on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years. Yet, our knowledge of the past is restricted. This infographic is to bring to perspective the state of civilization today and the ages that have already passed perhaps without record.

Dates for some events is speculative. The rise and fall of civilizations sometimes has happened with the merger of civilizations and has not been indicated. The prominent human-like species has been indicated. The debate on 'Homo Floresiensis' is still on. Some civilizations have been too short-lived to be indicated. Most civilizations depicted have at least risen to beyond 1000 cities for hundreds of years.

Fossil Evidence for the first Female Human ancestor (Mitochondrial Eve) is fairly accepted. Evidence for the first Male Human ancestor is still disputed.

All civilizations indicated have at least used Metal or Metallurgy (Iron/Bronze). Epics indicated are from the perspective of the Indian subcontinent, 'Troy' being the only exception. This has been done based on the influence of the prehistoric event that may have led to the birth of a legend. Dates for events are for occurrence and not documentation. Hence the evolution of writing or evidence of written material does not exist for most prehistoric events. Mesoamerican Civilization includes the Mayas, Incas, Olmecs, Nazcas and other ancient finds in that region.

This infographic is just to show that our history is merely a glimpse in the ages of the earth, and the vastness of life itself on earth ( to put it in perspective, Dinosaurs suffered a major extinction event about 65 million years ago - while this chronological infographic starts later than 5 million years ago.) This is a very simplified representation for quick and easy reading.

Click on the Image to view the graphic in high resolution.