Between 1347 and 1351, the Black Death wiped out between a third and half of Europe's population, along with millions in the Middle East and North Africa. Ancient DNA from victims confirmed the culprit: the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It took Europe more than a century to regain its pre-plague population.
Around 2300 BCE, Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, became high priestess of the Moon god at Ur. She composed hymns to the goddess Inanna and put her name to them. She is the oldest person identified as the author of a literary work, about 1,500 years before Homer.
Squeeze Earth's 4.5 billion years into a single 24-hour day. Homo sapiens shows up around 11:59:54 p.m., roughly six seconds before midnight. All of written history, from Sumerian tablets to today, fits into the final tenth of a second. A cosmic blink.