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Prehistory
Prehistory
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, but humans have only walked
on the planet for 190,000 years. The earliest living organisms were
microscopic bacteria, which showed up in fossils as early as 3.4 billion
years ago.
Many things had happened in that time. The Earth formed and
oxygen levels rose. About 800 million years ago, oxygen levels
reached about 21 percent and began to breathe life into more complex
organisms. The oxygen-rich ozone layer was also established,
protecting the Earth’s surface from harmful solar radiation.