| (18.16.12) 11.722 Northlight 85 (9.03 |
Length of time scale: 2.5 million years
Rationale for time length:
This length of time is a rough estimate of when the genus Homo (as in Homo Sapiens, Homo Neanderthalensis, Home Erectus) made its appearance. There is a lot of debate over the just how long ago Homo came into being, with a lot of it depending on the definition of Homo, so estimates often vary between 2 and 3 million years ago.
Coincidentally, the time of the advent of the dinosaurs and the advent of the genus Homo is separated roughly by a factor of one hundred. Dinosaurs evolved about 231 to 243 million years ago.
It is quite convenient that the two largest units of time in the Earth Epic calendar correspond to developments in Earth history that most people are quite familiar with: the advent of dinosaurs and the advent of the genus Homo. Knowing that a factor of one hundred separates the two events also tells us a lot about Earth history.
Dividing the estimated age of the Earth by the length of an eon (4.54 billion by 250 million) gives us exactly 18.16 Eons. Since a genesis is one-one hundredth of an eon, we can say that we are in Eon 18, Genesis 16.
It must be noted, however, that 18.16 Eons since the creation of the Earth is an estimate. The margin of error in the estimate of the Earth’s age is currently 50 million years in either direction or 20 Geneses in either direction. This means that within the margin of error, we could be in either Eon 17, Genesis 96, or Eon 18, Genesis 36. If science provides us with a more accurate estimate of Earth’s age, we can adjust the Epic Time Scale accordingly, without having to adjust most of the rest of the Calendar. Otherwise, for now, Eon 18, Genesis 16 is the best estimate we can make.
When the current Genesis began:
311,700 years before 2000 CE
Rationale for beginning the current Genesis at that time:
Recent studies in 2017 CE have established the age of Homo Sapiens as being between 260,000 and 350,000 years of age. The halfway point between those two figures as 305,000 years. But the reason why it’s set at 311,700 and not 305,000 years is related to the date at which the current Epoch has been set, which will be explained in the next section.
An implication of this dating is that just 12% of the span of the genus Homo includes Homo Sapiens. That means that for about 88% of the time that Homo has walked the Earth, Homo Sapiens has not existed.
—> next stop in the calendar tour: Epoch
<— previous stop in the calendar tour: Eon
(return to The Epic Time Scales)