Pleistocene

thumb|Hunting a Glyptodon. Painting by [[Heinrich Harder .]] thumb|The oldest known figurative painting is a depiction of a bull that was discovered in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in [[Indonesia. It was painted 40,000–52,000 years ago or earlier.]]

The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the Ice Age) is the geological epoch that lasted from 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 Paleolith

subspecies of the genus Homo (fossil)

thumb|upright=1.6|alt=Image of the Bering land bridge being inundated with rising sea level across time|Beringia sea levels (blues) and land elevations (browns) measured in metres from 21,000 years ago to present

subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age

archaeological period

glacial period

third age of the Pleistocene epoch

homo erectus fossil found in Kenya in 1984

subspecies of the genus Homo (fossil)

Fourth and final age of the Pleistocene Epoch

interglacial period

series of alternating glacial and interglacial periods during Quaternary

mass extinction event, around 10000 BCE, marking the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene, during which many megafauna species went extinct; hypothesized to be caused by human hunting and/or natural climate change

thumb|upright=1.15| Diluvial terraces on Katun River Altai Scabland, [[Altai Republic]] thumb|Giant current ripples in the Kuray Basin, Altai, Russia

glacial period

glacial period in the Alps

former lake (paleolake) in Botswana

alpine glacial period in the Pleistocene epoch

geomagnetic reversal

glacial period

glacial period in the Alps

rapid climate fluctuation in the last glacial period

natural phenomenon in which large groups of icebergs traverse the North Atlantic

first subseries and subepoch of the Pleistocene Series and Epoch

glacial stage in the Alps

climatic period

Holocene climate period during which Africa was wetter than today

lake in Azerbaijan

prehistoric archaeological site in Nice, France

continental glacier in North America during the last ice age

European glaciation

prehistoric site in Israel

genetics on the peopling of the Americas

sea

river that flowed where the Baltic Sea is now

large-scale glaciation of North Germany

ice age of the last 34 million years, in particular in Antarctica

archaeological site in Algeria

episode of cooling in the climate history of the Earth

interglacial period of the Early Pleistocene

Pincevent is an archaeological site in the commune of La Grande-Paroisse in France, near the town of Montereau-Fault-Yonne (Seine-et-Marne).

geomagnetic reversal that occurred approximately one million years ago

submarine volcano, the most westerly in the Easter Seamount Chain

cave and archaeological site in East Timor

glacial period

life and civilizations in Iran from the beginning to ancient era

submarine volcano

prehistoric lake in the Salton Sea basin of California

change in glacial cycles occurring 1 Mya (Pleistocene), from 41000-year glacial cycles (Milankovitch forcing) to 100000-year asymmetric cycles

Glacial Period in Britain c447,000 - c128,000