Pleistocene

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The Pleistocene ( PLY-stə-seen, -⁠stoh-; 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 comes from Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos), meaning "most", and καινός (kainós), meaning "new, recent". The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was highly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold glacial periods and warmer interglacials...

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