The view of time related to the universe, Earth, and humanity has changed throughout human history, depending on the various data available and the social and religious beliefs of the time. In the eighteenth century, the intellectual climate of rationalism allowed educated individuals, like Scottish physician James Hutton, to recognize the cyclical nature of geologic processes and thus grasp the concept of deep time. Geologists estimate the Earth is 4.57 billion years old. This span of time has been subdivided and the units arranged into a geologic time scale. The study of historical geology, the rocks and fossils associated with the Earth’s history, present the student with the nature of time within a geologic context.

In this vista, exercises have been developed to explore: