How old is the Na'vi race?

[Nightweaver20xx]

Well, what do you think? It was stated somewhere they evolved from the promeluris creatures on the moon, so they must be at least a few hundred thousand or so years old. My opinion is they are a relatively new species in a galactic sense, having evolved to sentience just around half a million years ago.

[feystorm]

Well, neytiri mentioned there only being 5 riders since the time of the first songs, which sounds like when their history began. Any civilization which has a record of when they began cant be that old.
But I doubt its a hardline number. Cant exactly flip a switch and say youre a fully evolved Na'vi now, its a gradual thing.

[Silronsem]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in the 2007 script Cameron describes Grace's Avatar as being the equivalent to mid 30s. He states her human body is in its 50s. Assuming the Avatar is a direct reflection of her, 50 human years would equal about 30 Na'vi years. The Na'vi would then live about 40% longer than humans. If we use today's predicted life-span in the forseeable future, humans will live to be about 120 years or so.
This is a lot of assuming, but the Na'vi lifespan should be about 168 years (when directly compared to humans). This would also have to assume that the Na'vi's evolution kept an equal pace with human medicine.

When Neytiri talks to Jake, she describes her grandfather's grandfather as being the last Toruk Makto. If a generation is about 150 years (giving 18 years to mature), that would be 4x150=600 years. Therefore, it would've been 600 years since the last Toruk Makto. There have been 5 TMs since the beginning of the Na'vi culture (according to Neytiri). Assuming they were somewhat equally spread out, that would be 3,000 years.

After all of that assumption, it comes to about 3,000 years since known Na'vi history. If someone knows for sure how long Na'vi live, that number would be much more accuracte. 3,000 years is pretty believable considering their evolution.

[Nightweaver20xx]

Well, neytiri mentioned there only being 5 riders since the time of the first songs, which sounds like when their history began. Any civilization which has a record of when they began cant be that old.
But I doubt its a hardline number. Cant exactly flip a switch and say youre a fully evolved Na'vi now, its a gradual thing.

Yet that's almost exactly what humans have done in researching our own kind, by trying to mark exactly when we transitioned from lower primate to Home Sapien, which at current estimates was about 2 million years ago. We have marked our civilization since the invention of agriculture, which occurred about 10,000 years ago. So why shouldn't we (and by "we" I mean Cameron) be able to landmark where exactly the Na'vi transitioned from nonsentient tree-swingers to creatures that built homes, sang songs and recorded the past?

Of course it's all relative: we humans are evolving even now. In 10,000, a million years time, IF we're still alive, we will undoubtedly be much changed, probably with a larger brain, less reliant on our primitive instincts, and more adaptive to change. But we've got to mark history with some sort of landmarks, or there will be no way to discern one era from the last.

[EviLaz]

Well, oral histories can stretch the truth. I don't know if they can get direct memories or a linear narrative through inputs like the Tree of Souls, but, culture does take a long time to evolve. Remember, recorded evidence of Human Civilization only goes back to about 6000 BC with Sumerian tablets. Australian Aboriginal oral history allegedly goes back 100,000 years to what they call 'The Dream Time.' That's what the 'time of the first song' reminded me of.

After reading an article about the Na'Vi that they don't war, I'd actually suspect they're a much older culture than humanity.

[Human No More]

I'd say at least as old as human civilisation, if not older.

[brianct]

noone knows

[last shadow]

Since the Na'vi are, well very close to perfection in adaptation to their environment its hard to speculate. The Na'vi do not seem to be concerned about technology at all or even science for that matter, theres no way to ascertain I guess

[Malu tek tek]

we mark human history as since "civilization" began we were around a lot longer than that as nomadic groups. the na'vi, in the majority of humans minds, dont have a civilization, so it would be impossible to tell how old the Na'vi are, the first songs could go back to when the forrest roamers fisrt all decided to live in hometree, what about before that? it is an impossible question

[Alias4Win]

JAMES CAMERON'S ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Grace talking about the Hometree

GRACE
Parker, it’s their ancestral home.They’ve lived there since before human
history began.

[ProfoundHeart]

The Na'vi are as old as their sun itself.

[Olo'eyctan]

In the 2007 script (page 82), Grace is reporting to Parker, telling him that Jake has made great progress but needs more time.
Parker: "Not what I wanted to hear".
Grace: "Parker, it’s their ancestral home.
They’ve lived there since before human
history began. You can spare them a few
more weeks."
Parker: "This thing is inevitable. What does it
matter when it happens? I’m sorry, Dr.
Augustine. You’re out of time."

[Palulukan_Taronyu]

The Na'vi are as old as their sun itself.

How old is the sun?

[EXO BIO]

A bio-neural network would take a long, long time to evolve.

[ahhfxj1]

noone knows

[Palulukan_Taronyu]

noone knows

Jim does...:)

[Na'viTirea]

i'd guess about as long as humans