The Story of Earth

Here you are, at the very beginning. The beginning of time, the beginning of the universe… the beginning of life. The Story of Earth takes you on a journey through space and time, covering 13.8 billion years of history. That’s billion. With a ‘b’. However, it was not until 4.5 billion years that Earth formed.

Some things to look out for in the Story of Earth: the Murchison Meteorite, Ediacaran Fossils, Lunar Meteorite and the Ensisheim Meteorite, one of these meteorites is even older than the Earth!


Earth formed with everything it needed for life to evolve. The first signs of life occur around 4.1 billion years ago, but not until 570 million years ago that we see the first large complex life in the Ediacaran fossils. The gallery takes you from Ediacaran times through the evolution of more complex and recognisable life, to a point in time when the Earth almost stood still. Around 252 million years ago a mass extinction event wiped out more than 80% of life on Earth!