Important Archeology Timeline

Over the years, there have been several great scientific discoveries that help explain the origin and nature of human beings. In the timeline below, several dates and events are written that are important to the history of human beings.

1848 Gibraltar Neanderthal

1856 Neander Valley fossil

1869 First modern Homo sapiens found

1886 Spy Neanderthals found

1891 First Homo erectus

1907 Mauer mandible, Germany

1908 French Neanderthals discovered

1911 Piltdown “fossils” discovered

1912 Acheulean and upper Paleolithic industries are defined

1913 Marcelin Boule’s Neanderthal monograph is formed

1924 Taung child discovered

1927 Homo erectus in China discovered

1936 Sterkfontein Australopithecines and the modjokerta skull, java, discovered

1938 First Robust Australopithecine

1942 Lascaux cave art uncovered

1947 First Pan-African congress on prehistory

1948 First fossil hominid discoveries at swartkrans, Japanese Macaque field studies occur

1950 Oldowan tools in North Africa are uncovered

1952 Excavations at Haua Fteah

1953 Piltdown hoax revealed

1954 First Hominid fossils discovered at Olduvai Gorge

1955 First stone tools at Sterkfontein

1967 Omo expedition launched, Ethiopia

1969 First Koobi Expedition

1971 First discoveries at Arago Cave

1974 Hominid discoveries at Hadar, Ethiopia

1978 Discovery of the Loetoli Footprints

1985 Oldest robust Australopithecine in East Africa

1992-1993 Pre-Australopithecus fossil at Awash Ethiopia. Oldest human discoveries at Atapuerca, Spain.

1994 Cave art of the Chauvet Cave, France, discovered

1995 “Little foot” discovery at Sterkfontein. New Australopithecine Species, Lake Turkana, Kenya

1998 Complete skeleton found at Sterkfontein

1999 New Australopithecine species found at Awash

In addition to these human discoveries, throughout this period of time many artifacts such as tools were discovered. These are also important because they tell up the level of competence that the ancient people had.

A certain area in the timeline I want to elaborate about is the Piltdown fossil scam. From 1911 to 1953 the find was believed to be true, until a scientist by the name of Kenneth Oakley came up with the conclusion that relative dating finds have similar fluorine counts. When he tested this on the Piltdown fossils, he discovered that there were several different fluorine counts, meaning that the find was a hoax.

Although I can’t go into further detail on all the dates and events, they all play an important role in the discovery and understanding of human beings and their origin.