Which came first, the Great Pyramid of Giza or Tyrannosaurus rex?
Tyrannosaurus rex came first, by 67.997 million years. T. rex lived in the last two million years of the age of dinosaurs.
Side by side
| the Great Pyramid of Giza | Tyrannosaurus rex | |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 2,560 BCE | 68 million years ago |
| Category | landmark | nature |
| What happened | Khufu's pyramid was completed at Giza. | T. rex lived in the last two million years of the age of dinosaurs. |
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.
Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrannosaurus rex lived from about 68 to 66 million years ago, right at the end of the Cretaceous. Stegosaurus died out around 150 million years ago. That means T. rex is closer in time to us — 66 million years — than it is to Stegosaurus, by more than 20 million years. The two are routinely drawn in the same picture and never met.
Deep-time date, approximate to within a million years or so.
Common questions
- Which came first, the Great Pyramid of Giza or Tyrannosaurus rex?
- Tyrannosaurus rex, by 67.997 million years — 68 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 Tyrannosaurus rex start?
- 68 million years ago. T. rex lived in the last two million years of the age of dinosaurs.
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Sources
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution