Ancient Earth is a free online map where you can check out how the Earth has changed in the last 750 years. This map is the brainchild of Ian Webster. Ian Webster is an online dinosaur database where you can find images and facts about over 1300 dinosaurs. Ancient Earth combines that database with a 3D map like Google Earth.
This map lets you swing back millions of years in the past to first green algae, coral, shells, and beyond. It lets you pick a major evolution interval in the last 750 million years and see how the Earth looked like then. You can also search a current location and see how it has changed over the years. This is an interactive way to explore the evolution of the Earth.
Also read: Interactive World Wildlife Map to Track Species by Location, Biodiversity Facets
Check Out How Your Home Looked Like in Dinosaur Times
Initially, the map open to 240 million years ago. This was the time when the era of the dinosaurs was started on the Earth. The map has a 3D Earth model in the center which you can move around to explore different areas. On the right side, you get options to pick the historic event and jump to that. You can also toggle display options from there such as Earth rotation, clouds, etc.
On the right side, you get a search bar where you can enter a current location or ZIP. Doing that marks that location on the map. Then you can jump to ancient times to see how that location has been changed overages. All these maps show political boundaries that can help keep track of the places more easily. You can explore the following ages with this map:
- First Green Algae
- First Shells
- First Coral Reefs
- First Vertebrates
- First Land Plants
- First Land Animals
- First Insects
- First Reptiles
- First Dinosaurs
- First Flowers
- First Primates
- First Grass
- First Hominids
- Pannotia Supercontinent
- Pangea Supercontinent
- Triassic
- Jurassic
- Cretaceous
- Dinosaur Extinction
Jumping to an age shows how many years ago it happened at the top of the map. Then in the bottom right corner, it shows a major event during that interval. If the location that you have search has any nearby fossils, it shows that information below the search bar. From that, you can click on a fossil to get more information on that.
Closing Words
Ancient Earth offers an interactive way to explore the evolution of the Earth. The 3D map makes it easy to explore the history of our plant along with all the major events of evolution. It can also be a fun exercise to explore how your home town is looked like during the Jurrasic era, Pangea, and more.
