article_snippet: The first of our human ancestors emerged in Africa around 2.8 million years ago - 400,000 years earlier than previously thought, a newly discovered fossilised jawbone has revealed.
article_snippet: 55 million years ago - First primitive primates evolve .
article_snippet: 15 million years ago - Hominidae (great apes) evolve from the ancestors of the gibbon .
article_snippet: 8 million years ago - First gorillas evolve.
article_snippet: 2.7 million years ago 
article_snippet: 2.3 million years ago - Homo habalis first thought to have appeared in Africa .
article_snippet: 1.6 million years ago - Hand axes become the first major technological innovation .
article_snippet: 800,000 years ago - Early humans control fire and create hearths.
article_snippet: 400,000 years ago - Neanderthals first begin to appear and spread across Europe and Asia .
article_snippet: 200,000 years ago - Homo sapiens - modern humans - appear in Africa .
article_snippet: 40,0000 years ago - Modern humans reach Europe .