The birth of the universe represents a hideout for members of the Q Continuum. The USS Voyager was briefly transported here by Quinn in order to escape Q, but he too had once used this hideout and was thus able to find the ship. (VOY: "Death Wish")
9 billion years ago
Hundreds of protostars collapsed in close proximity to one another forming the astronomical phenomenon later known as a black cluster. (TNG: "Hero Worship")
In 2368, the USS Enterprise-D crew indicate that the Black Cluster was formed nine billion years ago.
In 2373, she was angry being tossed aside by Q for someone five billion years younger (Kathryn Janeway). Considering the time traveller nature of the Q, this comment could refer to a duration rather than a datation.
Analysis made by the USS Enterprise-D crew in 2368 estimate the genetic program to be over four billion years old.
4 billion years ago
Q and the female Q begin their romantic involvement around this time. (VOY: "The Q and the Grey")
In 2373, they were involved for about four billion years. Considering the time traveller nature of the Q, this comment could refer to a duration rather than a datation.
Q refers to three and a half billion years ago, "give or take an aeon".
According to current real-world science, there is evidence that suggests life took hold on Earth already between 3.8 and 4.1 billion years ago [1] and flourished in the oceans by at least 3.7 billion years ago. [2]
In 2367, Q proposed Picard to see Tagus as it was two billion years ago, and commented that "they really knew how to party back in those days".
It was not elaborated whether this civilization was already Taguan or some preceding species.
1 billion years ago
A possible depiction of a Slaver
The Slaver Empire is the master of all intelligent beings in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Slavers and all of their subjects are exterminated in a massive war which caused all intelligent life to re-evolve. (TAS: "The Slaver Weapon")
In 2269, history of the Slaver Empire was considered sketchy. The stasis boxes were the rare source of information the Federation had at their disposal.
Millions of years ago
400 million years ago
In the Devonian period, Eryops, the last common ancestor of cold-blooded and warm-blooded organisms, lives on Earth. (VOY: "Distant Origin")
According to real-world science, Eryops lived some hundred million years later during the Permian period.
In 2370, USS Enterprise-D encountered this object in sector 1156 and calculated, based on its origin in the D'Arsay system, that it spent 87 million years drifting in space for over two sectors.
In 2154, Jonathan Archer indicate that a comet hit his world around 65 million years ago, causing a mass extinction, most of the reptiles died out and mammals became the dominant species.
In 2373, USS Voyager crew discussed about the hadrosaur who vanished when a mass extinction occurred at the end of the Cretaceous Period, and asked the computer to run a genome projection algorithm if the hadrosaur had continued to evolve over the last 65 million years.
According to the Distant Origin Theory, some of Earth's dinosaurs belonging to the hadrosaurgenus survive the mass extinction. Although the dominant reptile superorder was almost wiped out, these surviving dinosaurs continue to develop, likely on a secluded, later destroyed landmass. Sometime thereafter, they possibly become one of the first interstellar species in the galaxy when they leave Earth and travel to the Delta Quadrant, laying the foundation for the Voth civilization. (VOY: "Distant Origin")
While Dr. Forra Gegen suggests this hypothesis for the origin of the Voth, Chakotay later theorizes that the Voth's ancestors left before the extinction event, the impending catastrophe being what motivated them to do so in the first place.
When Deanna Troi was affected by Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome in 2370, she de-evolved into an amphibious lifeform which became extinct over 50 million years ago. Considering her mixed heritage, no information was given on the origin of this lifeform (Betazed or Earth).
20 million years ago
Now considering themselves a race indigenous to the Delta Quadrant, the recorded history and identity of the Voth dates back to around this time. (VOY: "Distant Origin", "Friendship One")
In 2373, the Ministry of Elders was reluctant to deny 20 million years of history and Doctrine just because one insignificant saurian has a theory.
Jean-Luc Picard stated that the ancient Bajoran civilization was flourishing "when Humans were not yet standing erect". According to real world science, the evolution of Human bipedalism can be traced back to several primate species between 4 and 7 million years ago, and the emergence of Homo erectus to about 2 million years ago.
In 2268, Sargon indicated that their vessels were colonizing this galaxy six thousand centuries prior.
500,000 years ago
Arretan civilization is destroyed in a massive civil war when the atmosphere is ripped from Arret. Only a few survivors escape by preserving their consciousnesses in a cave deep below the surface. (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow")
In 2268, scans of the USS Enterprise revealed that the planet's atmosphere was ripped away by a cataclysm, about a half million years ago.
The planet Exo III becomes uninhabitable after its sun begins to go dark. The inhabitants resettle beneath the surface and construct androids to serve them. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
In 2266, scans of the USS Enterprise revealed that this system's sun had been fading steadily for a half million years.
In 2375, USS Voyager crew found a field reactor whose age was at least 100,000 years old.
In Africa on Earth, the ǀXam Abathwa tribe gathers to share a story about a girl who created the milky way. In one later told version of the story, the girl belonged to a group of primitive farmers afraid of the night, until the girl encounted an alien. (DIS: "Brother"; ST: "The Girl Who Made the Stars")
This story is set "a thousand centuries ago" (before 2230s and 2257).
A Sphere-shaped lifeform that died in the mid-23rd century dates back to this era. It records everything it sees and experiences starting around this time as well, including data on countless civilizations. (DIS: "Project Daedalus")
In "An Obol for Charon" (2257), initial scans suggest the sphere is only one hundred thousand years old, but this seems to have been revised to hundreds of thousands years by Project Daedalus.
According to Guinan, the Borg began their evolution into cybernetic beings thousand of centuries before the 2360s. (TNG: "Q Who")
In 2365, Guinan told that "They're made up of organic and artificial life which has been developing for thousands of centuries." No information was given on the source of that information.
In 2374, archeologists determined that the walls below the temple of B'hala predate the ancient city of B'hala {20,000 years ago} by 10,000 years, but they didn't know much about the first inhabitants. They have also found inside a stone artefact over 30,000 years old.
The stone tablet city in Bajor is abandoned, sediments bury the ruins, and eventually the ancient city of B'hala is built on top. (DS9: "The Reckoning")
In 2374, archeologists estimated that this site was abandoned some 25,000 years ago.
22,000 years ago
Circa 20,000 BC
The first of at least 947 archaeological expeditions is conducted at the ancient ruins on Tagus III. (TNG: "Qpid")
In 2367, Jean-Luc Picard indicated that there had been 947 known archaeological excavations on the planet's surface, the earliest was some 22,000 years ago.
20,000 years ago
Circa 18,000 BC
Icon painting of B'hala
The Bajoran Holy City of B'hala is lost to history. (DS9: "Rapture")
Until its discovery in 2373, the City of B'hala was missing for 20,000 years and was considered a myth. A Bajoran icon painted nearly 20,000 years ago was the only known proof that B'hala ever existed.
An artisan known only as the Master of Tarquin Hill on Kurl, during the Third Dynasty, creates small ceramic figurines, called naiskos, that embody that culture's belief that within each person is a community of individuals, each with its own desires, views, and voices. (TNG: "The Chase")
In 2369, ProfessorGalen offered a 12,000 year old Kurlan naiskos to Jean-Luc Picard.
The civilization on Sigma Draconis VI, by this point at its technological peak, advanced well beyond 23rd centuryFederation capabilities, experiences a catastrophic glacial age. As a result, the inhabitants of the planet begin to de-evolve to a primitive level, and the male and female inhabitants experience a great schism in their society. (TOS: "Spock's Brain")
A species of intelligent spacefaring organisms which form symbiotic relationships with humanoid lifeforms that live within their bodies becomes nearly extinct. Gomtuu is the last known survivor. (TNG: "Tin Man")
The first of the Orbs is discovered by the Bajorans in the sky above their planet. Over the next ten millennia, a total of nine of these extraordinary objects are discovered, inspiring revelations that shape Bajoran religion. (DS9: "Emissary")
According to Quinn, this is the last time that "ordinary" Q in the Q Continuum have to speak with each other. (VOY: "Death Wish")
Bajoran archaeologists begin their unsuccessful search for the lost city of B'hala, which is not uncovered until the year 2373. (DS9: "Rapture")
A path on a Delta Quadrant planet was said to be cut out by unknown spacefarers. The path endured into the 24th century, when it was used by Mikhal Travelers who had an outpost on the planet. (VOY: "Darkling")
In DS9: "Little Green Men", Nog states that it "took [ten thousand years] to establish the Ferengi Alliance", which implies it dates back to 8000 BC or earlier. This might also imply that Gint, the first Grand Nagus and original author of the Rules of Acquisition lived at this time, if he is considered the founder of the Alliance.
In 1968, the USS Enterprise met Gary Seven, a descendant of Human ancestors taken from Earth approximately 6,000 years ago.
3834 BC
Akharin is born in Mesopotamia on Earth. A soldier felled in battle, he soon realizes that no injury can kill him. He goes on through many aliases, becoming the immortal known as Flint. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah")
Birth date indicated by Flint himself.
circa 3700 BC
Landru
Landru of Beta III preaches peace and coexistence among his people, ending a period of savagery. He creates a powerful computer to guide and protect his people after his death. (TOS: "The Return of the Archons")
In 2267, the USS Enterprise discovered a society totally under the control of Landru's machine, 6,000 years after his death.
In 2267, Apollo said they knew Earth well 5,000 of your years ago. This would place the Greek Gods on Earth at the time of the Minoan civilization and the Tiryns culture of Ancient Greece. However, the earliest references to Greek mythology historically date from around 900BC, which would seem to have been well after when Apollo states the Greek gods had left Earth.
The Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 125 dated this event to around the year 3000 BC.
Survivors from the Sahndara system supernova arrive on Earth. Their sojourn coincides with the time of the philosophersSocrates and Plato. "After the death of the Greek civilization they idolized" they move on to the planet Platonius. (TOS: "Plato's Stepchildren")
In 2268, Platonians stated that millennia ago, they managed to escape just before their sun went nova. They transported themselves to Earth during the time of Socrates and Plato {5th century BC}, where their leader liked Plato's ideas. 2,500 years before 2268 {circa 232 BC}, they arrived on a barren rough-hewn planet they called Platonius.
Parmen ("present philosopher king") and Philana were born in the 1st century BC, so they are obviously not from the previous generation that met Plato.
Kalandan constructed an artificial planet. During its construction, a deadly disease organism was accidentally created, killing all the outpost's inhabitants. Supply ships servicing the outpost inadvertently transported the disease back to the Kalandan homeworld, which presumably led to the extinction of their species. Before her death, Losira enabled the outpost's automated defenses to protect it until the day when more Kalandans would arrive to secure it. (TOS: "That Which Survives")
In 2268, the USS Enterprise discovered that planet who was only "a few thousand years old".
220 BC – 206 BC : Great Wall of China is formed when the first Qin emperor connected the walls built by a previous dynasty to prevent an invasion by nomads to the north. (VOY: "11:59")
Lactrans attain a level of development that would not be met in terms of Human development until the late 23rd century. (TAS: "The Eye of the Beholder")
In 2269, Spock stated that they were once at a similar level to Humans, "some tens of thousands of centuries ago... their centuries."
A power struggle occurs within the highest ranks of a race called the Saltah'na, which ultimately destroys them. Before their extinction, the Saltah'na create a collection of energy spheres which preserve a record of the events leading to the species' destruction via a telepathic matrix, which can be transferred into the minds of some humanoid species, causing them to reenact the power struggle. (DS9: "Dramatis Personae")
A scientist named Lazarus discovers the alternative warp, constructing a space-time vehicle which can transverse the corridor between two universes over both time and space. He begins his relentless pursuit of his nemesis "the thing" across centuries of time, who is in fact Lazarus's own counterpart from the alternate universe. (TOS: "The Alternative Factor")
Star Trek includes several conflicting references about the age of the universe.
According to an okudagram from TNG: "The Royale", showing data about planetTheta VIII, its age was "7.2e10×1010 solar years", i.e., 72 billion years old.
In VOY: "Latent Image", The Doctor said that the primordial atom burst occurred 20 billion years ago.
In VOY: "Good Shepherd", an engineer said that the cosmos was 16 billion years old, which was the estimated age during the filming of the episode.
Current real-world scientific evidence puts the age of the universe at 13.787 ± 0.020 billion years.
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