Pleistocene

American  

[plahy-stuh-seen] / ˈplaɪ stəˌsin /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to the epoch forming the earlier half of the Quaternary Period, beginning about two million years ago and ending 10,000 years ago, characterized by widespread glacial ice and the advent of modern humans.

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noun

1. the Pleistocene Epoch or Series.

Pleistocene British  

/ ˈplaɪstəˌsiːn /

adjective

1. 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 man

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noun

1. the Pleistocene epoch or rock series

Pleistocene Scientific  

/ plī′stə-sēn′ /

1. The earlier of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period, from about 2 million to 10,000 years ago. The Pleistocene Epoch was characterized by the formation of widespread glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere and by the appearance of humans. Mammals included both small forms, such as saber-toothed tigers and horses and giant ones, such as mammoths and mastodons. Almost all the giant mammals, including woolly mammoths, giant wolves, giant ground sloths, and massive wombats disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene and the start of the Holocene.

2. See Chart at geologic time

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Other Word Forms

• post-Pleistocene
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Pleistocene

First recorded in 1830–40; from Greek pleîsto(s) “most” (superlative of polýs “much”) + -cene

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Pleistocene

The same bounty that makes the Tar Pits the best place on Earth to study its slice of the late Pleistocene epoch also makes for a move of truly mammoth proportions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

The result is a near-complete record of virtually everything that lived in the place now called Los Angeles in the late Pleistocene.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

Early humans occupied the site during the Middle Pleistocene, a period spanning roughly 774,000 to 129,000 years ago.

From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026

"So far as I can say, it is old, sub-fossilised, and probably Pleistocene - it's a massive ballpark, but most likely somewhere between 100,000 and half a million years old."

From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026

Whiteman’s bones were in Blackwater Draw, which during the Pleistocene served as a wide, shallow regional drainage channel, a kind of long, slow-moving lake.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann