Humans have walked the Earth for 190,000 years, a mere blip in Earth's 4.5-billion-year history. Learn more about the planet's tumultuous past.
More About the Prehistoric World
-
Digging Up Sea Monsters
Follow the blog from the Spitsbergen Expedition as they unearth "sea monsters″ from the Upper Jurassic Period 150 million years ago.
-
Prehistoric Time Line
National Geographic's interactive time line takes you on a 4.5-billion-year-old trip through Earth's history⎯from its Precambrian birth to the birth of Homo sapiens some 190,000 years ago.
-
Pterosaurs—Lords of the Ancient Skies
The largest animals that ever flew, pterosaurs ruled the Mesozoic skies for 150 million years, flapping and soaring long before the first bird ruffled a single feather.
-
Fossil Wars
In the international fossil trade, even priceless specimens have a price tag. Ancient bones can end up in a movie star's mansion as easily as in a museum.
Shop National Geographic
2012 Emerging Explorers
ScienceBlogs Picks
-
Explorer Moment: Ray of Hope
Biologist Andrea Marshall leads her team in discovering new and conserving known manta ray species.
-
Explorer Moment: Naming Baby Parrots
While studying green-rumped parrotlets, Karl Berg discovered the adults appear to "name" their young.
Advertisement
Phenomena: A Science Salon
National Geographic Magazine
-
Longevity Pictures
Our genes harbor many secrets to a long and healthy life. And now scientists are beginning to uncover them
-
Element Hunters Pictures
All the elements found in nature—the different kinds of atoms—were found long ago. To bag a new one these days, and push the frontiers of matter, you have to create it first.
-
Good Gas, Bad Gas
Burn natural gas and it warms your house. But let it leak, from fracked wells or the melting Arctic, and it warms the whole planet.
Genographic
-
Explorer Moment: Ray of Hope
Biologist Andrea Marshall leads her team in discovering new and conserving known manta ray species.
-
Explorer Moment: Naming Baby Parrots
While studying green-rumped parrotlets, Karl Berg discovered the adults appear to "name" their young.
