indicating a very long time

I would like to know if there is some equivalent of the Hungarian phrase “in the course of the times.” It is used to indicate quite a long time, in a case when we can’t determine or we don’t want to determine if it means decades or centuries or millions of years. For e.g.:
“In the course of the times,” the birds of the island lost their ability of flying.
“In the course of the times,” the glacier hollowed those rocks.
“In the course of the times,” that trade/profession became extinct.
“In the course of a very long time” doesn’t seem to be right because it contains some stress, while the Hungarian phrase is stressless, like English “at one time,” “for a while,” “in the course of time.”