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Cenozoic Era (66 Ma – 11.7 ka)66 Ma – 11.7 ka (11,700 BCE)Coming Soon • Deep-Time Curation

Earth 66 Million Years Ago to the Ice Age: The Cenozoic Era

The Age of Mammals: adaptive radiation into ecological niches, collision of India with Asia uplifting the Tibetan Plateau, Antarctic glaciation, Pleistocene woolly megafauna, and hominin evolution.

DEEP-TIME ENGINE • COMING SOON

Geological & Paleobiological Data Integration In Progress

This epoch belongs to Earth’s deep-time evolutionary continuum (66 Ma – 11.7 ka (11,700 BCE)). We are actively calibrating tectonic continental drift meshes and paleobiology fossil coordinates for this period.

Currently Active: Full Human History GIS Dataset (3300 BCE – 2026 CE)

Our interactive map engine is currently dedicated to displaying our 12 collected layers across 5,500 years of recorded human civilization—including 13,800+ dated border shapes, 30 ancient wonders, classical archaeology, and trade routes.

Dedicated Era Timeline Horizon:66 Ma – 11.7 ka (11,700 BCE)
Start: 66 MaCenozoic Era (66 Ma – 11.7 ka)End: 11.7 ka (11,700 BCE)
Explore Live Human History AtlasBrowse All Eras Tree

Epochal Mechanics & Planetary Evolution

Following the non-avian dinosaur extinction, mammals rapidly expanded into apex predatory and herbivorous roles. Plate collisions between India and Eurasia pushed up the Himalayas, cooling the planet and initiating the Quaternary glaciation with miles-thick ice sheets covering North America and Eurasia. In Africa, genus Homo evolved complex tool use, migrating across Beringia during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Key Evolutionary & Geological Milestones:

  • •Rapid radiation of modern mammalian orders (cetaceans, primates, carnivora, proboscidea)
  • •Indo-Eurasian continental collision uplifting Himalayas and driving global cooling
  • •Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles, dropping sea levels by up to 120 meters
  • •Emergence of Homo sapiens (~300,000 BCE) and global megafaunal migrations

Staged Deep-Time Spatial Datasets

The following peer-reviewed geological and paleobiological repositories are cataloged for upcoming integration:

EPICA Ice Core Paleoclimate Proxies & Oxygen Isotope Stages
In Pipeline
Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) Sea Level Exposure & Beringia Exposed Land Polygons
In Pipeline
Late Quaternary Megafaunal Extinction Chronology (Barnosky et al.)
In Pipeline

Live Human History Eras8 Sub-Eras

Explore eras with operational GIS data:

Planetary Deep-Time Eons