The geological timescale divides Earth's history into eons, eras, periods, and epochs based on fossil and rock evidence. The two eons are the Precambrian (earliest life) and Phanerozoic (complex life). Major periods include the Carboniferous (coal plants), Permian (mass extinction), Jurassic (rise of dinosaurs), and Cretaceous (asteroid impact killed dinosaurs). Today we are in the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era.