[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dawnblue_6211.png]]

''[[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=305 Dawn of Time]]'' is a webcomic by Michael Stearns. 100 million years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the earth, there was a young cavewoman named Dawn. Armed only with her determination and only a little common sense, Dawn sets out to make her way in the savage wild. Along the way, she meets and befriends a big, friendly triceratops named Blue, as well as a time traveler named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Mantell Mantell]]. Things kind of snowball from there.

In July 2011 Stearns [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=305 announced]] that he was putting the comic on indefinite hiatus due to other commitments.
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!!''Dawn of Time'' provides examples of the following tropes:

%% * Action Girl: Dawn
%% * AllAnimalsAreDogs: Blue
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: In Blue's backstory it's shown that he hatched among a clutch of ''Protoceratops''. Lampshaded by the title of the chapter: "[[Literature/TheUglyDuckling The Ugly]] ''[[Literature/TheUglyDuckling Protoceratops]]''".
* AnachronismStew: The comic shows organisms from across the Mesozoic and even humans and Ice Age mammals all living in the middle Cretaceous.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: The final comic before the hiatus is of this nature.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: This is on purpose so "dinosaurs read as clearly as possible." Averted [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=146 here.]] Also averted with ground-hunting [[GiantFlyer azhdarchid pterosaurs]] and a more bird-like view of the hypothetical "dinosauroids".
* BigDamnHeroes
** Dawn and Blue [[spoiler:return from the future to [[MindScrew rescue Dawn from the past]]]].
** Blue does this in his backstory and [[spoiler:finally gains the friendship of his ''Protoceratops'' foster sibling by saving him from a ''Velociraptor'']].
* BloodLust: Dawn acquires a taste for blood after being covered [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=6 with it.]]
%% * ButtMonkey: The lungfish.
* TheCavalry: [[spoiler:The elephant god saves Dawn from the castle guards. The dinosauroids also fulfill this trope at around the same time by StormingTheCastle.]]
%% * ChekhovsGun
%% ** The elephant-shaped artifact.
%% ** [[spoiler:Even Dawn's spiral hairdo, in fact.]]
%% * ChekhovsGunman
%% ** [[spoiler:The elephant god.]]
%% ** Mary Ann Woodhouse.
%% * ChekhovMIA
%% ** That business with the Bayeux Tapestry.
%% * ChessWithDeath: Not only [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=291 chess]], but also a test of [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=290 guitar-playing skill]].
%% * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
%% ** Dawn
%% ** Blue's expressions sometimes imply that he is this as well.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The dinosauroids just kind of vanish after "The Island Queen" story arc.
* CoolBike: BLU 1 in the "Dawn in Time" arc, [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=260 starting here]].
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Blue's ''Protoceratops'' foster sibling. It looks as though he has died and has become part of the [[TruthInTelevision "fighting dinosaurs" fossil]], but it turns out he was just dreaming and Blue had already saved him.]]
%% * DontTouchItYouIdiot: Sets off the IndyEscape.
%% * TheDrifter: Dawn
%% * DumbBlonde: Dawn
* EarthyBarefootCharacter: What self-respecting cavewoman would wear shoes? As pointed out in the blurb, bare feet are hard to draw and the author was getting over his fear of drawing them with [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=8 one strip]].
* EquippableAlly: Blue gets used as a wrecking ball at one point.
%% * FacePalm: Dawn can make [[spoiler:even Death]] facepalm.
* FeatheredFiend
** The dromaeosaurids are initially (intentionally) [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology shown unfeathered]]. A feathered dinosaur shows up later in the comic, and the ''Velociraptor'' in Blue's backstory is also feathered.
** Averted by the dinosauroids, who worship Dawn and aid the heroes.
%% * FishOutOfTemporalWater: Mantell [[spoiler:when Owen takes the time machine and leaves him behind.]]
* ForcedTransformation: [[spoiler:A merman who saves Dawn from drowning appears to be attempting to turn her into a mermaid to join his little undersea harem, but she rejects it. A giant nautiloid attacks their ship immediately after.]]
%% * FreeRangeChildren: Dawn's parents never could keep a handle on her.
* FurBikini: Dawn, being a typical cavegirl, is dressed in a bikini-like garment presumable crafted from animal skins.
%% * GiantFlyer: The azhdarchid pterosaurs in Chapter V.
%% * [[ABoyAndHisX A Girl and Her Triceratops]]
* TheGrimReaper: There are actually (at least) two of them, [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=284 one for humans and one for other creatures]]. Dawn and Blue escape them, and so are apparently still alive.
%% * GrowlingGut: Dawn and Mantell, regularly. Blue too, in his flashback.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter:
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Mantell Gideon Mantell]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Owen Richard Owen]], whose rivalry is kept intact.
** And Gideon's eventual (from his perspective) wife Mary Ann Woodhouse.
** Creator/HGWells shows up as the inventor of several time machines.
%% * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Owen
* HollywoodPrehistory: Dinosaurs and primitive cavepeople live contemporaneously. [[spoiler:Also, Dawn is the only primitive. Everyone else seems to be relatively further along.]]
* KleptomaniacHero: Dawn, who steals a mirror, a brush, etc. And repeatedly Mantell's hat!
%% * IndyEscape: Seen [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=52 here]].
* LeftHanging: Certain tantalizing plot threads, due to the SeriesHiatus. [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=240 This]] being a prime example.
* LethalChef: It should be said lungfish taste [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=58 terrible.]]
%% * LittleMissBadass: Dawn
* MindScrew: The entire time traveling storyline, including [[spoiler:Owen's plan to retcon his aging and Dawn getting sent into the future and then returning to save herself]].
* NobodyHereButUsStatues: Blue, hiding from pursuit in a Victorian dinosaur park. Ironically, Blue is the only "statue" that looks remotely accurate according to current knowledge of dinosaurs.
%% * NonHumanSidekick: Blue
%% * NubileSavage: Dawn
* OhCrap
** Dawn when she realizes a pterosaur is behind [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=79 her.]]
** Also when, after adventuring in the future, [[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=281 she and Blue arrive back in their own time JUST as the Chixhulub meteorite is about to impact]].
%% * RainOfBlood: See BloodLust.
%% * RaptorAttack: The featherless dromaeosaurids in earlier pages play this straight, but the dromaeosaurids that appear later are more true to real life.
%% * RebusBubble: [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=8 This strip]], or [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=12 this one]].
* RunningGag
** The [[ButtMonkey lungfish]] are screwed whenever they think about getting out of the water.
** Dawn vomiting after trying to eat something inedible [[spoiler:(or smoking a pipe)]].
* SeashellBra: Averted! The author couldn't bring himself to draw any because there would be no reason for [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=163 them]].
* ShoutOut: [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=158 Here's one]] to ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=261 and another]] to the original ''Film/MadMax'' trilogy.
%% * SmokingIsCool: Mantell smokes a pipe at first.
* StormingTheCastle: The dinosauroids enlist the help of pterosaurs and use Blue as a wrecking ball to do this in order to save Dawn. [[spoiler:After the dinosauroid chief is killed, Dawn leads the surviving dinosauroids on a second charge.]]
* SymbolSwearing: Not that whatever Dawn's saying is ever intelligible, but when she swears, we know it.
* TakeThat: To Dr. Horner's hypothesis that ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' was an obligate scavenger. [[spoiler:Dr. Horner and Dr. Bakker go into the past to investigate, and, predictably, Dr. Horner gets eaten when he tries to show that ''T. rex'' would not be interested in live prey.]]
%% * TempleOfDoom: [[spoiler:Complete with a half-elephant/half-man god thing guarding the inside.]]
* TerrifyingTyrannosaur: In Chapter 3, Dawn, Mantell, and Blue get chased by a ''Tyrannosaurus'' that tries to eat them.
%% * ThirtyMinutesOrItsFree: Parodied in "[[http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=266 Dawn in Time]]".
%% * TimeParadox: [[spoiler:Mantell goes to get his hat to avoid one, but then Owen leaves him behind.]]
* TooDumbToLive
** Dawn herself at the start of the comic. (Which is [[FridgeLogic a little odd]], as her adoptive parents later mention that it wasn't uncommon for her to leave home for a few days. How did she feed herself during those times? Or did she just go hungry?)
** [[spoiler:Dr. Horner. Yes, no doubt the ''T. rex'' was just a cowardly scavenger....]]
%% * TheUnintelligible: Dawn
%% * UnderTheTruck: During the bike chase scene in "Dawn in Time".
%% * UnderwaterKiss: Of the practical [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=156 variation]].
* WantedPoster: Dawn for [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=91 "attempted 'cattle' rustling and destruction of property."]]
* YouCantFightFate: Averted. Dawn successfully changes the past and saves herself. Not only that, but the circumstances in [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=298 the past she returns to]] ends up slightly different from the one she [[http://www.dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=253 left]].
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