---
title: "Which came first, the Great Pyramid of Giza or sharks?"
description: "the Great Pyramid of Giza vs sharks: sharks came first, by 449.997 million years — 450 million years ago against 2,560 BCE. What happened in each case."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-sharks/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the Great Pyramid of Giza or sharks?

**Which came first, the Great Pyramid of Giza or sharks?: sharks**

450 million years ago — 449.997 million years before the Great Pyramid of Giza

sharks came first, by 449.997 million years. Shark-like fish were swimming the oceans in the Ordovician.

## Side by side

|  | the Great Pyramid of Giza | sharks |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 2,560 BCE | 450 million years ago |
| Category | landmark | nature |
| What happened | Khufu's pyramid was completed at Giza. | Shark-like fish were swimming the oceans in the Ordovician. |

## the Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid was finished around 2560 BC and remained the tallest structure on Earth for about 3,800 years, until Lincoln Cathedral's spire in 1311. The comparison worth holding on to is Cleopatra: she was born in 69 BC, roughly 2,500 years after the pyramid was built, and lived roughly 2,000 years before us. The pyramid was more ancient to Cleopatra than Cleopatra is to anyone reading this.

## sharks

Scales from shark-like fish appear around 450 million years ago and unambiguous shark teeth by about 420 million years ago. The first trees appeared roughly 385 million years ago, so sharks predate trees by tens of millions of years. They also predate Saturn's rings on most current estimates, and they have survived all five mass extinctions.

> Deep-time dates are approximate to within tens of millions of years and shift as new fossils are found.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the Great Pyramid of Giza or sharks?

sharks, by 449.997 million years — 450 million years ago against 2,560 BCE.

### When did the Great Pyramid of Giza start?

2,560 BCE. Khufu's pyramid was completed at Giza.

### When did sharks start?

450 million years ago. Shark-like fish were swimming the oceans in the Ordovician.

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## Sources

- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)