Pleistocene

Pleistocene

of, denoting, or formed in the first epoch of the Quaternary period, which lasted for about 1 600 000 years. It was characterized by extensive glaciations of the N hemisphere and the evolutionary development of humans

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Pleistocene [′plī·stə‚sēn]

(geology)

The older of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period, spanning about 1.8 million to 10,000 years ago. It represents the interval of geological time (and rocks accumulated during that time) extending from the end of the Pliocene Epoch (and the end of Tertiary Period) to the start of the Holocene Epoch. It is commonly characterized as an epoch when the earth entered its most recent phase of widespread glaciation. Also known as Ice Age; Oiluvium.

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Pleistocene 

the first division, corresponding to the longest epoch, of the Anthropogenic (Quaternary) period. The Pleistocene is characterized by a general cooling of the earth’s climate and periodic occurrence of extensive continental glaciation in the middle latitudes. Some researchers, including the Soviet geologist V. I. Gromov, classify the beginning of the Pleistocene as a separate epoch preceding the Pleistocene proper. This separate epoch, called the Eopleistocene, includes the Upper (Late) Pliocene, which is classified by most researchers in the Neogene.

The term “Pleistocene” was proposed in 1832 by the British geologist C. Lyell for the marine deposits immediately preceding deposits of the modern period because of the predominance of presently existing forms of fauna in these deposits.