Early-type galaxies have been the predominant morphological class for massive galaxies since only z ∼ 1

Present-day massive galaxies are composed mostly of early-type objects. It is unknown whether this was also the case at higher redshifts. In a hierarchical assembling scenario the morphological content of the massive population is expected to change with time from disc-like objects in the early Universe to spheroid-like galaxies at present. In this paper we have probed this theoretical expectation by compiling a large sample of massive (M-stellar >= 10(11) h(70)(-2) M-circle dot) galaxies in the redshift interval 0 < z < 3. Our sample of 1082 objects comprises 207 local galaxies selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey plus 875 objects observed with the Hubble Space Telescope belonging to the Palomar Observatory Wide-field InfraRed/DEEP2 and GOODS NICMOS Survey surveys. 639 of our objects have spectroscopic redshifts. Our morphological classification is performed as close as possible to the optical rest frame according to the photometric bands available in our observations both quantitatively (using the Sersic index as a morphological proxy) and qualitatively (by visual inspection). Using both techniques we find an enormous change on the dominant morphological class with cosmic time. The fraction of early-type galaxies among the massive galaxy population has changed from similar to 20-30 per cent at z similar to 3 to similar to 70 per cent at z = 0. Early-type galaxies have been the predominant morphological class for massive galaxies since only z similar to 1.