This is a list of dates associated with the prehistoric peopling of the world (first known presence of Homo sapiens). The list is divided into four categories, Middle Paleolithic (before 50,000 years ago),Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,500 years ago), Holocene (12,500 to 500 years ago) and Modern (Age of Sail and modern exploration).List entries are identified by region (in the case of genetic evidence spatial resolution is limited) or region, country or island, with the date of the first known or hypothesised modern human presence (or "settlement", although Paleolithic humans were not sedentary).