Compress seven million years into one calendar year and Homo sapiens appears on December 15; the oldest dated rock art, on December 28
Source. Dates from the Smithsonian Human Origins Program and the papers linked in Sources; positions computed.
Method and data
Method. Day of the year = 365 × (1 − years ago ÷ 7,000,000), counted from January 1 at 7 million years ago; 315,000 years ago falls on day 348.6.
| Event | Years ago | Day of the year | Calendar date | Clock time | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sahelanthropus | 7,000,000 | 0.00 | January 1 | 00:00 | Smithsonian Human Origins Program |
| Ardipithecus ramidus | 4,400,000 | 135.57 | May 16 | 13:42 | Smithsonian Human Origins Program |
| Laetoli footprints | 3,660,000 | 174.16 | June 24 | 03:46 | Smithsonian Human Origins Program |
| Lomekwi stone tools | 3,300,000 | 192.93 | July 12 | 22:17 | Harmand et al., Nature, 2015 |
| Earliest Homo | 2,800,000 | 219.00 | August 8 | 00:00 | Villmoare et al., Science, 2015 |
| Hominins at Dmanisi | 1,850,000 | 268.54 | September 26 | 12:51 | Ferring et al., PNAS, 2011 |
| Burning at Wonderwerk | 1,000,000 | 312.86 | November 9 | 20:34 | Berna et al., PNAS, 2012 |
| Homo naledi | 335,000 | 347.53 | December 14 | 12:46 | Smithsonian Human Origins Program |
| Homo sapiens, Jebel Irhoud | 315,000 | 348.57 | December 15 | 13:48 | Richter et al., Nature, 2017 |
| Harbin cranium | 146,000 | 357.39 | December 24 | 09:17 | Fu et al., Cell, 2025 |
| Blombos drawing | 73,000 | 361.19 | December 28 | 04:38 | Henshilwood et al., Nature, 2018 |
| Muna hand stencil | 67,800 | 361.46 | December 28 | 11:09 | Oktaviana et al., Nature, 2026 |
| Neanderthal gene flow | 47,000 | 362.55 | December 29 | 13:10 | Iasi et al., Science, 2024 |
| Last Neanderthals | 40,000 | 362.91 | December 29 | 21:56 | Smithsonian Human Origins Program |
| White Sands footprints (disputed) | 23,000 | 363.80 | December 30 | 19:13 | Bennett et al., Science, 2021 |
