The History of Geology and Life on Earth
Name
Date
Use the “TIMELINE OF LIFE ON EARTH” in the Islands of Evolution exhibit to learn about the history of life
on Earth. Then, continue to the Earthquake exhibit to answer questions on the geologic history of Earth and
the Human Odyssey exhibit in African Hall to learn about the history of humans.
1
Early Earth History
Describe what the first life to evolve 3.5 billion
years ago was like.
When did land plants first evolve?
450 million years ago
Single celled, including bacteria that
could use energy from the sun to
make food and release oxygen into the
atmosphere
What structures allowed these early plants to
survive on land? Explain your answer.
waxy exterior keeps them from
drying out and pores allow them
to exchange gases with the air
Estimate This...


Earthquake
If this length represented the entire 4.6 billion
year history of Earth and started by the Earthquake
exhibit, how far to the other side would you have
to walk before you were at a time when life first
evolved (3.5 billion years)? Mark your guess with a
star along the dotted line on the map.
Length of the Academy as a scaled timeline of Earth
Islands of
Evolution
The length of the Academy from the east to west
windows is about 450 feet or 137 meters.
African Hall
How far would you have to walk to the point when
simple marine organisms evolved, 650 million
years ago? Mark this estimate with an x along the
dotted line on the map.
East Windows = Present day
West Windows = Earth formed
4.6 billion years ago
2
3
Islands of Evolution
Earthquake
Use the interactive Plate Movement screens to label
the pictures. The first two are from the Southern
Hemisphere view; the rest are from the Atlantic
Ocean view. Possible dates are 200, 125, 66, 30, and
2 million years ago.
Southern
Hemisphere
African Hall:
For each date write what groups of species flourished
on earth (mark with a star), recently evolved (mark
with an up arrow), or went extinct (mark with an X).
Not all have all three categories.
250 million years ago
 95% of all species
 (or ) club mosses and reptiles on land; in
the oceans, snails and clams
 Oceans teem with fishes, squid, large
swimming reptiles and ammonites (extinct
molluscs)
4
Human Odyssey
(Part 1)
Fill in each box with the key event
in human evolution that occurred at
that time.
10 million years ago
125 million years ago
 dinosaurs dominate the land
 flowering plants evolve in tandem with
pollinating insects
 modern groups of insects, including
ants, butterflies, aphids, grasshoppers, and
termites
 modern forms of corals
66 million years ago
(11 million years before 50 million years ago)
 Dinosaurs
Students may also include that most
modern groups of mammals – including
early primates – as well as grasses evolved.
Though, strictly speaking, this happened
between 66 and 50 million years ago.
Humans and chimpanzees
diverged from gorillas.
8-7 million years ago
Humans and chimpanzees
diverged from each other.
2.4
- 1.4 million years ago
______
Examine the fossils next to
the timeline. What can these
fossils tell us about life on Earth
millions of years ago? What
information can’t fossils tell us
about ancient life?
Southern
Hemisphere
66
___________
million years ago
Atlantic
Ocean
(For this box, fill in the timepoint as a
range.)
Genus Homo evolved.
Imagine what the Earth looked like
around this time. Hint: There is a
picture of it on this page.
30
___________
million years ago
Atlantic
Ocean
30 million years ago
 grasslands
 mammals on the land
 monkeys and the early ancestors of apes
 most modern bird groups
 modern groups of marine animals
 (or) marine invertebrates diversify
200
___________
million years ago
200,000 years ago
Modern humans (Homo sapiens)
evolved.
Revisit the map on the first
page showing the length of
the Academy as a scaled
timeline of the Earth.
Mark your estimate of when
modern humans evolved
with a square.
125
___________
million years ago
Atlantic
Ocean
2
___________
million years ago
4
African Hall: Human Odyssey (Part 2)
The history of modern humans continues with their migration out of Africa. View the large
migration map screen and use the interactive timelines below the screen to fill in the boxes with
the areas of the world populated with modern humans at each timepoint. Notice how climate
change affected migration patterns.
Africa
Africa
200,000 years ago
(modern humans evolved)
125,000
100,000
Africa
Middle East
The tropics
(for example,
India)
5
Africa
Middle East or
the Arabian
Peninsula
Today
65,000 55,000 25,000 10,000
Africa
Middle East
The tropics
Southeast Asia
China
Australia
Europe
Africa
Middle East
The tropics
Southeast Asia
China
Australia
Europe
The Americas
Critical Thinking
Discuss with a Friend
» When one group of species goes extinct, like the dinosaurs, why do other groups of species
soon thrive on Earth?
» How have humans adapted to the variety of environments in which they live? Remember
that adaptations include both physical and behavioral adaptations.
» Reflecting on all of the time scales you experienced today, what was most surprising to you?