History of Life

History of Life Terminology

  • Palaeo: older, ancient; relating to geological past.
  • Anthropos: “human being”
  • Archae: primitive

Geological Ages

  • Earth is approximately 4.554.55 billion years old.
  • Realistic age calculated in 1953 by Clair Patterson using the U-Pb method on a meteorite crater in Arizona.

Geological Time Scale

  • Phanerozoic: