In White Sands, New Mexico, dozens of human footprints, mostly left by teenagers and children, were dated to about 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. That is several thousand years earlier than the long-accepted date of around 13,000 years. Disputed at first, the dating was confirmed in 2023 by two independent methods.
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.