A good place to start is by downloading Reasons To Believe's Creation Timeline off their web site. That will take you from the creation of the universe to the creation of humans.
From there, you can reference this timeline. I have adapted it from this web site.
Era of the Hominids: 5,000,000 to 30,000 B.C.
- 5,000,000 - 1,000,000 B.C. – Australopithecus
- 2,200,000 - 1,600,000 B.C. – Homo habilis
- 100,000 - c. 30,000 years ago – Neanderthals
- See a visual depiction of different hominid species here. (Note: This web site promotes evolution. Ignore that interpretation. Just look at the data and consider these specimens as separately created species.)
Creation of Anatomically Modern Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens; biblical Adam and Eve) – c. 50,000 to 100,000 years ago
- Early human migration (with dates and maps!)
- c. 40,000 years ago – Aborigines arrive in Australia
- 40,000 to 35,000 years ago – Modern humans (Cro-Magnons) migrate into Europe (There is some overlap during this period between the late Neanderthals and early European humans.)
- Note: Because Hugh Ross believes Noah's Flood wiped out all of humanity, he places it as far back as 50,000 years ago (arguably longer) prior to large-scale human migration. He offers a good (although slightly dated) summary of his flood model in his book, The Genesis Question.
Hunter-Gatherer Societies: 50,000 to 8,000 B.C.
This era is marked by the rapid/sudden appearance of artistic expression, which could possible be considered an expression of the biblical description of humans as the bearers of the "image of God." Here are a few classic examples:
- c. 40,000 years ago – Appearance of music
- c. 35,000 years ago – Possible earliest appearance of Venus statues, possibly indicating worship practices
- c. 30,000 to 25,000 B.C. – Woman of Willendorf
- 25,000 - 12,000 B.C. – Venus Figures
- 18,000 B.C. – Chauvet Cave, France
- 15,000 B.C. – Lascaux cave paintings
- c. 14,000 to 10,000 B.C. – Altamira Cave Paintings
- 12,000 to 8,000 B.C. – The Ice Age
NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION – Humans begin to live in cities and engage in animal domestication, agriculture and making pottery.
Settled Agricultural Societies: 10,000 to 3,500 B.C.
The "Agricultural Revolution," involves the development of settled societies including the discovery of agriculture and the domestication of different plants.
- 10,000 B.C. – First agricultural villages
- 10,000 B.C. – First evidence of metalwork
- c. 8000 to 6500 B.C. – Settled agriculture in Mesopotamia
- c. 6000 - c. 2000 B.C. – Settled agriculture in Africa
- c. 6000 to 3000 B.C. – Settled agriculture in India
- c. 5000 to 3000 B.C. – Settled agriculture in China
- c. 4000 to 1000 B.C. – Settled Agriculture in Europe
- c. 3000 B.C. to A.D. 700 – Settled agriculture in the Americas
Primary Urban Societies: beginning 3500 B.C.
This era involves the first development of cities in six key regions: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, the Yangtze River Valley, Mesoamerica and the Andean Altiplano. From these original centers it diffused to the rest of the world.
- 3300 B.C. – First Sumerian cities
- NOTE: This is approximately where most Bible scholars and archaeologists put Noah's flood. I would recommend my friend, Carol Hill's article, "A Time and Place for Noah" for more on this subject.
- 3100 B.C. – Beginnings of Egyptian civilization
Empires: 3200 B.C. to A.D. 200
Cities began as self-governing political units (city-states) and were eventually brought together into a single political unit (usually by force) to form empires.
- c. 2100 B.C. – Abraham (The dates are widely accepted from this point forward with the exception of the Exodus event and Joshua's conquest.)
