Deep Time: A journey through 4.5 billion years of our planet

How can the human mind conceive of the immense arc of the history of our planet or the vast expanse of time since the beginning of the universe? Deep time challenges our sense of meaning, both individually and collectively, and threatens to overwhelm our comprehension of the cosmos. But windows to this cosmic span do exist - traces and artefacts of ancient epochs, things we can see and touch today, which can connect us to this distant past. From the prismatic bands in a polished rock, to the hiss of static on the radio, and from the fossil fragments you find on the beach to the stars in the night sky, the evidence of deep time is all around us.

Carving a timeline through the aeons of evolution that have taken place before our time on Earth, Deep Time explores the evidence that exists beneath our feet, in our museums, in the skies and surrounding us every day, which can help us to make sense of the great age of our world. Organised chronologically, Deep Time features full colour imagery of incredible objects, places and phenomena that have withstood unimaginable geological and cosmic forces to bring us the story of time itself.