The Pleistocene (/ˈplaɪstəˌsiːn,-stoʊ-/PLY-stə-seen, -stoh-;[5][6] often referred to colloquially as the Ice Age) is the geological epoch that lasted from c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos), meaning "most", and καινός (kainós; Latinized as cænus), meaning "new".
At the end of the preceding Pliocene, the previously isolated North and South American continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama, causing a faunal interchange between the two regions and changing ocean circulation patterns, with the onset of glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere occurring around 2.7 million years ago. During the Early Pleistocene (2.58–0.8 Ma), archaic humans of the genus Homo originated in Africa and spread throughout Afro-Eurasia. The end of the Early Pleistocene is marked by the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, with the cyclicity of glacial cycles changing from 41,000-year cycles to asymmetric 100,000-year cycles, making the climate variation more extreme. The Late Pleistocene witnessed the spread of modern humans outside of Africa as well as the extinction of all other human species. Humans also spread to the Australian continent and the Americas for the first time, co-incident with the extinction of most large-bodied animals in these regions.
The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, with the sea levels being up to 120 metres (390 ft) lower than present at peak glaciation, allowing the connection of Asia and North America via Beringia and the covering of most of northern North America by the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
^Cohen, K. M.; Finney, S. C.; Gibbard, P. L.; Fan, J.-X. (January 2020). "International Chronostratigraphic Chart" (PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
^Mike Walker; et al. (December 2018). "Formal ratification of the subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Period)" (PDF). Episodes. 41 (4). Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS): 213–223. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2018/018016. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
^Gibbard, Philip; Head, Martin (September 2010). "The newly-ratified definition of the Quaternary System/Period and redefinition of the Pleistocene Series/Epoch, and comparison of proposals advanced prior to formal ratification" (PDF). Episodes. 33 (3): 152–158. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2010/v33i3/002. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
^Walker, Mike; Johnse, Sigfus; Rasmussen, Sune; Steffensen, Jørgen-Peder; Popp, Trevor; Gibbard, Phillip; et al. (June 2008). "The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Period) in the NGRIP ice core". Episodes. 31 (2): 264–267. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2008/v31i2/016. hdl:10289/920.
^Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917]. "Pleistocene". In Peter Roach; James Hartman; Jane Setter (eds.). English Pronouncing Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 3-12-539683-2.
The Pleistocene (/ˈplaɪstəˌsiːn, -stoʊ-/ PLY-stə-seen, -stoh-; often referred to colloquially as the Ice Age) is the geological epoch that lasted from...
The Late Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene saw numerous extinctions of predominantly megafaunal (typically defined as having body masses over...
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic...
The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of...
The Pleistocene wolf, also referred to as the Late Pleistocene wolf, is an extinct lineage or ecomorph of the grey wolf (Canis lupus). It was a Late Pleistocene...
Pleistocene Park (Russian: Плейстоценовый парк, romanized: Pleystotsenovyy park) is a nature reserve on the Kolyma River south of Chersky in the Sakha...
across western Europe and the other was restricted to Beringia during the Pleistocene. For this reason, the Beringian population is considered a distinct subspecies...
Pleistocene rewilding is the advocacy of the reintroduction of extant Pleistocene megafauna, or the close ecological equivalents of extinct megafauna...
the Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within...
supervolcano eruption that occurred about 74,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one...
The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary...
species. It is estimated to have lived about 350,000 years ago in the Pleistocene epoch. It was suggested that it was conspecific with Panthera atrox and...
warmer Miocene and the relatively cooler Pleistocene. The upper boundary was set at the start of the Pleistocene glaciations. Charles Lyell (later Sir Charles)...
The Pleistocene coyote (Canis latrans orcutti), also known as the Ice Age coyote, is an extinct subspecies of coyote that lived in western North America...
species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of H. erectus in 1950 as H. e. heidelbergensis...
commonly as the Pleistocene woodland bison or Pleistocene wood bison, was a species of bison that lived from the Early Pleistocene to at least the early...
land snail in the family Discidae known commonly as the Iowa Pleistocene snail and Pleistocene disc. It occurs in Iowa and Illinois in the United States...
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China Plain, dating to at minimum 146,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene. The skull was discovered in 1933 along the Songhua River while the Dongjiang...
present across Asia as far east as China and Mongolia during the Late Pleistocene and possibly into the Holocene. The genus Struthio was first described...
subspecies of the jaguar that was endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch (1.8 mya–11,000 years ago). Although P. onca still resides in the...
present. As of 2023, the Quaternary Period is divided into two epochs: the Pleistocene (2.58 million years ago to 11.7 thousand years ago) and the Holocene...
Neophoca palatina, the Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion, is an extinct species of pinniped known from a nearly-complete adult male skull found at Ōhope...
around the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary approximately 2.6 million years ago, or around the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene approximately 0.8 million...
Middle-Late Pleistocene), Mammuthus exilis on the Channel Islands of California (Late Pleistocene), and Mammuthus creticus on Crete (Early Pleistocene). Like...
meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Its specimens...
both animal and plant species within the European Union. During the Pleistocene glaciations, the Italian territory remained largely free of ice, which...
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