List of time periods

Contents 1 Human time periods 1.1 Prehistoric periods 1.2 Historical periods 1.3 Contemporary Historical Periods Throughout the World 1.4 Mythological and astrological time periods 2 Geologic time periods 3 Cosmological time periods 3.1 13.7 billion years ago: The Big Bang Theory (The Universe's Possible Beginnings) 4 See also

The categorization of time into discrete named blocks is called periodization. This is a list of such named time periods as defined in various fields of study. Major categorization systems include cosmological (concerning the various time periods in the origin and evolution of our universe), geological (concerning time periods in the origin and evolution of earth ) and historical (concerning time periods in the origin and evolution of mankind).

Human time periods

These can be divided broadly into prehistorical (before history began to be recorded) and historical periods (when written records began to be kept).

Prehistoric periods

In archaeology and anthropology, human prehistory is subdivided around the three-age system. This list includes the use of the three-age system as well as a number of various designation used in reference to sub-ages within the traditional three.

• The Stone Age
  • Paleolithic Age
    • Lower Paleolithic
    • Middle paleolithic
    • Upper Paleolithic
  • Mesolithic Age
  • Neolithic Age
• The Copper Age. Note: The Copper Age was not part of the original three-age system.
• The Bronze Age
• The Iron Age

The dates for each age can vary by region. On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of last glacial period of the current ice age (around 10000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch.

Historical periods

• Mesopotamia (3500 BCE – 559 BCE)

• Historical Periods of the Americas
  Further information: History of the Americas
  Further information: History of the United States
  • Classic and Postclassic eras, Central America (200 CE – 1519 CE)
  • Early Intermediate, Middle Horizon, Late Intermediate, Late Horizon (Peru, 200 CE – 1534 CE)
    • Huari, Chimú, Chincha, Chanka Confederation, Tiwanaku, Inca
  • Baroque (New World, 1600 CE – 1750 CE)
  • Spanish hegemony (Americas, 16th century – 1820s)
  • Reconstruction era (United States, 1865 CE – 1877 CE)
  • Gilded Age (United States, 19th century)
  • Progressive Era (United States, 1890s – 1920s)

• Historical Periods of Southeast Asia
  • Srivijaya (Indonesia, 3rd century to 14th century), Tarumanagara (358 CE – 723 CE), Sailendra (8th & 9th centuries), Kingdom of Sunda (669 CE – 1579 CE), Kingdom of Mataram (752 CE – 1045 CE), Kediri (1045 CE – 1221 CE), Singhasari (1222 CE– 1292 CE), Majapahit (1293 CE – 1500 CE)
  • Chenla (Cambodia, 630 CE – 802 CE) and Khmer Empire (Cambodia, 802 CE – 1432 CE)
  • Anterior Lý Dynasty and Triệu Việt Vương, Third Chinese domination, Khúc Family, Dương Đình Nghệ, Kiều Công Tiễn, Ngô Dynasty, The 12 Lords Rebellion, Đinh Dynasty, Prior Lê Dynasty, Lý Dynasty, Trần Dynasty, Hồ Dynasty, Fourth Chinese domination (Vietnam, 544 CE – 1427 CE)
  • Spanish hegemony (Philippines, 1525 CE – 1898 CE)

• Chinese Dynasties
  Further information: History of China
  • Shang Dynasty (China 1600 BCE – 1046 BCE)
  • Zhou Dynasty (China 1200 BCE – 500 BCE)
  • Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (China, 420 CE – 960 CE),
  • Liao Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty (1115–1234), Western Xia Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty (China, 220 CE – 1644 CE)
  • Qing dynasty (China, 1644 CE – 1912 CE)

• Historical Periods of Ancient Egypt
  Further information: Ancient Egypt
  • Old Kingdom (Egypt, 3000 BCE – 2000 BCE)
  • Middle Kingdom (Egypt, 2000 BCE – 1300 BCE)
  • New Kingdom (Egypt, 1550 BCE – 1070 BCE)
  • Coptic period (Egypt 300 CE – 900 CE)

• Historical Periods of Europe
  Further information: European History
  • Migration period (Europe 200 CE – 700 CE)
  • Middle Ages (Europe, 4th century – 15th century)
    • Early Middle Ages European (AD 500 CE – 1000 CE)
      • Dark Age (Europe, 4th century – 900 CE)
      • Viking Age (Scandinavia, Europe, 793 CE – 1066 CE)
    • High Middle Ages (Feudalism) European military expansion (1000 CE – 1450 CE)
    • Late Middle Ages European (1300 CE – 1500 CE)
  • The Renaissance (Europe, 14th century – 16th century)
• Early modern period (Europe, 16th century – 18th century)
  • Age of Discovery (or Exploration) (Europe, 15th century – 17th century)
  • Spanish hegemony (Europe, 16th and 17th century)
    • Elizabethan period (United Kingdom, 1558 CE – 1603 CE)
    • The Protestant Reformation (Europe, 16th century)
    • Classicism (Europe, 16th - 18th century)
    • Industrious Revolution, (Europe, 16th - 18th century)
    • Jacobean Era (United Kingdom, 1603 CE – 1625 CE)
  • Petrine Era (Russia, 1689 CE – 1725 CE)
  • The Age of Enlightenment (or Reason) (Europe, 18th century)
    • Georgian Era (United Kingdom, 1714 CE – 1830 CE)
  • Modern era (Europe, 18th century – 20th century)
    • Industrial Revolution (Europe, United States, elsewhere 18th and 19th centuries)
    • Age of European colonialism and imperialism
      Further information: Colonialism
    • Napoleonic Era (1799 CE – 1815 CE)
    • Victorian era (United Kingdom, 1837 CE – 1901 CE); British hegemony, much of world, around the same time period.
    • Romantic Era (1800 CE – 1920 CE)
      • Edwardian period (United Kingdom, 1901 CE – 1910 CE)

• Historical Periods of Ancient Greece/Rome
  Further information: Ancient Greece
  Further information: Ancient Rome
  • Ancient Greece (Greece and Near East, c. 3300 BCE – 31 BCE (however, this area had settlements as far back as 9000 BCE; see Timeline of Ancient Greece)
  • Ancient Rome (509 BCE – AD 476E)

• Historical Periods of India
  Further information: History of India
  • Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BCE – 1300 BCE)
  • Vedic period (India 1500 BCE – 500 BCE)
  • Gupta Empire, Pala Empire, Rashtrakuta, Hoysala Empire, and Kakatiya Empire (India, 280 CE – 1323 CE)
  • Mughal Empire (India, 1526 CE – 1857 CE)

• Historical Periods of Japan
  Further information: History of Japan
  • Jomon period (Japan 800 BCE – 400 BCE)
  • Yayoi period (Japan 400 BCE — 300 CE)
  • Kofun period (Japan 300 CE – 600 CE)
  • Asuka period, Nara period, Heian period, Kamakura period, Muromachi period, and Azuchi-Momoyama period (Japan, 538 CE – 1603 CE)
  • Tokugawa shogunate (Japan, 1603 CE – 1868 CE)
  • Meiji period (Japan, 1868 CE – 1912 CE)

• Historical Periods of the Middle East
  • Islamic Golden Age (Islam, 700 CE – 1300 CE)
  • Ottoman Empire (Islam, 1299 CE – 1923 CE)

Contemporary Historical Periods Throughout the World

• Machine Age (1900 CE – 1945 CE)
  • Age of Oil (after 1901 CE)
  • World War I (1914 CE – 1918 CE)
  • Interwar period (1918 CE – 1939 CE)
    • Roaring Twenties (1920 CE – 1929 CE)
    • Great Depression (1929 CE – World War II)
  • World War II (1939 CE – 1945 CE)
  • Atomic Age (after 1945 CE)
    • Post-war era (1946 CE – 1962 CE)
    • Cold War (Soviet Union and United States, and their allies, 1945 CE – 1989 CE or 1991 CE)
      • Space Age (after 1957 CE)
        • The Sixties (1960 CE – 1969 CE)
  • Post-Modern (Soviet Union and United States, 1973 CE – present)
    • Information Age (1970 CE – present)
      • The Seventies (1970 CE – 1979 CE)
      • The Eighties (1980 CE – 1989 CE)
      • The Nineties (1990 CE – 1999 CE)
      • The Noughties (2000 CE – 2009 CE)
      • The Tens (2010 CE - 2019 CE)
    • The Big Data age (2001 CE – present)

Mythological and astrological time periods

• Astrological ages
  • Age of Taurus
  • Age of Aries
  • Age of Pisces
  • Age of Aquarius

• Greek mythology
  • Golden Age, self-sufficient
  • Silver Age, self-indulgent
  • Bronze Age, warlike
  • Heroic Age, nobly aspirant
  • Iron Age, violent

• Aztec mythology
  • Nahui-Ocelotl, Destroyed by Jaguars
  • Nahui-Ehécatl, Destroyed by Hurricane
  • Nahuiquiahuitl, Destroyed by rain of Fire
  • Nahui-Atl, Destroyed by Flood
  • Nahui-Ollin, Destroyed by Earthquakes

Geologic time periods

The geologic time scale covers the extent of the existence of Earth, from about 4600 million years ago to the present day. It is marked by Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points. Geologic time units are (in order of descending specificity) eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages; and the corresponding chronostratigraphic units, which measure "rock-time", are eonothems, erathems, systems, series, and stages.

The second and third timelines are each subsections of their preceding timeline as indicated by asterisks. The Cenozoic is sometimes divided into the Quaternary and Tertiary periods, although their use is no longer official.

Cosmological time periods

13.7 billion years ago: The Big Bang Theory (The Universe's Possible Beginnings)

Time Period	Duration	Description
Planck epoch	From the start to 10-43 seconds after the Big Bang	Very little concrete information is known about this epoch. Different theories propose different views on this particular time.
Grand unification epoch	Between 10-43 to 10-36 seconds after the Big Bang	The result of the universe expanding and cooling down during the Planck epoch.
Electroweak epoch	Between 10-36 seconds to 10-12 seconds after the Big Bang	The universe cools down to 1028 Kelvin.
Inflationary epoch	Between 10-36 seconds to 10-32 seconds after the Big Bang	The shape of the universe flattens due to cosmic inflation.
Quark epoch	Between 10-12 seconds to 10-6 seconds after the Big Bang	Cosmic inflation has ended. Quarks are present in the universe at this point.
Hadron epoch	Between 10-6 seconds to 1 second after the Big Bang	The universe has cooled enough for quarks to form hadrons, protons, neutrons.
Lepton epoch	Between 1 second to 10 seconds after the Big Bang	Most hadrons and anti-hadrons annihilate each other, leaving behind leptons and anti-leptons.
Photon epoch	Between 10 seconds to 380,000 years after the Big Bang	Most leptons and anti-leptons annihilate each other. The universe is dominated by photons.
Nucleosynthesis	Between 3 minutes to 20 minutes after the Big Bang	The temperature of the universe has cooled down enough to allow atomic nuclei to form via nuclear fission.
Recombination	About 377,000 years after the Big Bang	Hydrogen and helium atoms form.
Reionization	Between 150 million and 1 billion years after the Big Bang	The first stars and quasars form due to gravitational collapse.

See also

• Exponential timeline shows all history on one page in ten lines.
• Periodization for a discussion of the tendency to try to fit history into non-overlapping periods.
• List of fossil sites with link directory
• List of timelines