By Kim Ann Zimmermann, LiveScience Contributor | October 10, 2013 06:18pm ET
The Cenozoic Era, which began about 65 million years ago and continues into the present, is the third documented era in the history of Earth. The current locations of the continents and their modern-day inhabitants, including humans, can be traced to this period.
The era began on a big down note, catching the tail end of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event at the close of theCretaceous Period that wiped out the remaining non-avian dinosaurs.
The term Cenozoic, first spelled "Kainozoic," was originally used in an 1840 entry in the Penny Cyclopedia encyclopedia in an article written by British geologist John Phillips. The name is derived from the Greek phrase meaning “recent life.”
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