Pleistocene

[plahy-stuh-seen]

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.

noun

1. the Pleistocene Epoch or Series.

Pleistocene

/ 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

noun

1. the Pleistocene epoch or rock series

Pleistocene

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

Other Word Forms

• post-Pleistocene adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pleistocene¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pleistocene¹

C19: from Greek pleistos most + kainos recent

Example Sentences

From this evidence, researchers concluded that the ancestors of modern Mountain Pygmy-possums probably followed rainforest habitats uphill during a warm and wet phase in the Pleistocene Epoch.

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This discovery marks an important step forward in understanding how early humans occupied the Atlantic coastline of the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene.

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By comparing surrounding layers of ash, they determined that the remains date back roughly 404,000 years to a notably warm phase of the Middle Pleistocene Epoch.

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And then, at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch about 12,000 years ago, most of them vanished.

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Hominins belonging to the species Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, the two most common living human species of the Pleistocene Epoch, made the tracks, the researchers said.

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