Advent of Complex Life

Click here for more information on the events in the timeline walk

Did you participate in a guided or self-guided tour of our walk? If so, please fill out our survey to help us improve it for next year, and we'll mail you a copy of NASA's Astrobiology comic book! 

The Earth is 4.567 billion years old, and many incredible events have occurred during its long and storied history – the formation of the oceans, the origin of life, the first animals, the rise and fall of dinosaurs,  and the appearance and evolution of our own species, just to name a few. Take a walk along the Charles River between Massachusetts Avenue and Ames Street on the MIT side of Memorial Drive as you explore a scaled-down version of the geologic timeline where each inch represents 240,000 years. Signs along the way will show you when some of these amazing changes and innovations have occurred throughout Earth’s history and will give you a new perspective on the immensity of geologic time. 

Those with web-enabled smart phones will be able to explore each event in more detail on our accompanying website.

The timeline walk is 1/3 of a mile long, on a smooth paved sidewalk.

The timeline will be up for the entire length of the Cambridge Science Festival in 2013, dates forthcoming. 

Tours leave from the corner of Mass Ave and Memorial Drive, on the MIT side of the river, near Building #1

Guided Tour Dates and Times:
TBD

Please contact Ross Williams <rosshw@MIT.EDU>for more information about the 2013 timeline walk including information on guided tours for classes and other groups. 

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Funding for the Timeline is provided by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the Paleontological Society. Help, content material, and editing thanks to: The Cambridge Science Festival, The Summons Lab, Stephanie Brown, all the volunteer tour guides, Zeke Bernstein-Hanley, Carl Cohen, Zoe Cohen, Cambridge Offset Printing.