pleistocene
n. uncountablen. the time in Earth's history that lasted from about 2.6 million years ago until 11,700 years ago. It is often called the Ice Age because large parts of the world were covered in ice.
n. the geological epoch spanning from approximately 2.58 million to 11,700 years before the present. Characterised by repeated cycles of glaciation and the emergence of modern humans.
Mammoths lived during the Pleistocene.
Scientists study ice cores to understand how the climate shifted during the Pleistocene.
The transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene was marked by significant megafaunal extinctions and a global rise in sea levels as the massive continental ice sheets retreated.
From Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos, “most”) and καινός (kainós, “new”), meaning “newest”, coined by Charles Lyell in 1839. By surface analysis, containing the suffix -cene.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
When referring to the geological epoch, it is almost always capitalised.
Last updated May 11, 2026