Prehistoric Timelines

Use the menu below to go straight to the period or take a look through the page and click on the links.

Palaeozaic Era - the periods before the dinosaurs appeared in order of occurance starting with the most earliest.

Click on a period to find out more about each particular time.

Precambrian 4600-570 Million Years Ago	Precambrian is an era which includes the Proterozoic eon and the Archean eon spanning about 2000 years each.
Cambrian 570-505 Million Years Ago	The first fishes, corals, trilobites and shellfish appeared.
Ordovician 505-438 Million Years Ago	The first nautiloids appeared. Corals and trilobites were common.
Silurian 438-408 Million Years Ago	The first land plants and giant sea scorpions called Eurypterids appeared.
Devonian 408-362 Million Years Ago	The first amphibians, insects and spiders appeared.
Carboniferous 362-290 Million Years Ago	The first reptiles appeared. Great swamp forests covered the land.
Permian 290-248 Million Years Ago	The first sailback reptiles such as Dimetrodon appeared.

Mesozaic Era - During this time the Dinosaurs appeared and eventually ruled the Earth. It aso includes the period of the Dinosaur extinction.

Click on a period to find out which Dinosaurs lived in each era. (Images will open in a new window, click close button when finished).

Triassic Period - 245 million years ago	The first dinosaurs such as Eoraptor, Coelophysis and Melanorosaurus, Plateosaurus, Mussaurus and mammals, turtles, crocodiles and frogs appeared.
Upper Triassic

Jurassic Period - 208 million years ago	The first birds appeared Dinosaurs included diplodocus, stegasaurus, brachiosaurus.
Lower Jurassic
Middle Jurassic
Upper Jurassic

Cretaceous Period - 144 million years ago	Dinosaurs during this time included muttaburrasaurus, Utahraptor, ankylosaurus. The dinosaurs died out towards the end of this period.The first snakes and modern mammals appeared.
Lower Cretaceous
Upper Cretaceous

For a list of all Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs and Sea Reptiles featured on this site, click HERE!

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