Jurassic Calendar
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The Jurassic Calendar (also referred to as the dinosaur calendar) is a pedagogical visualization method that scales the total duration of dinosaur existence on Earth—approximately 164 million years—into a single calendar year. Similar in concept to Carl Sagan's Cosmic Calendar and the Geologic Calendar, it aims to help visualize the immense length of the Mesozoic era and the reign of dinosaurs in comparison to the duration of human history and human evolution.
Temporale scale
[edit]In this temporal scale, one calendar year represents 164 million years (from the widespread appearance of early dinosaurs in the Triassic to their extinction at the K-Pg boundary). Under this proportion, time scales as follows:
- 1 month ≈ 13.67 million years
- 1 day ≈ 449,315 years
- 1 hour ≈ 18,720 years
- 1 minute ≈ 312 years
- 1 second ≈ 5.2 years
Chronology and scale
[edit]Dinosaurs first appeared in the fossil record approximately 230 to 245 million years ago during the Triassic period,[1] dominant throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous, and went extinct (with the exception of avian dinosaurs) roughly 66 million years ago due to the Chicxulub asteroid impact.[2] Their total duration of dominance spanned roughly 164 million years.
By treating this 164-million-year era as a single 365-day year starting on 1 January (00:00) and ending on 31 December (23:59:59), major milestones in hominid evolution and human recorded history fall within the final days and minutes of the calendar year when projected at the same relative scale.
Comparison with human timeline
[edit]| Real time ago | Event | Jurassic Calendar date / time |
|---|---|---|
| 164 Mya | Appearance and rise of non-avian dinosaurs | 1 January, 00:00 |
| 6 Mya | First bipedal hominids appear in the fossil record[3] | 18 December |
| 300,000 ya | Emergence of Homo sapiens[4] | 31 December, 23:38 |
| 6,000 ya | Appearance of early human civilizations (e.g. Sumer, Ancient Egypt) | 31 December, 23:52 |
| 0 ya (Present) | Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event / End of the Jurassic Calendar year | 31 December, 23:59:59 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Rise of the dinosaurs". MIT News (in Italian). 12 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
- ↑ "Chicxulub crater". EBSCO Research Starters (in Italian). 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
- ↑ "Sahelanthropus tchadensis". Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (in Italian). 3 January 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
- ↑ "Oldest Homo sapiens dating back 300,000 years found in Morocco". Revista Pesquisa FAPESP (in Italian). 15 June 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
External links
[edit]- Geologic Time Scale at the Geological Society of America
- Human Evolution Timeline Interactive at the Smithsonian Institution
- Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle - Origin of Dinosaurs
