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

"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

The site is also close to Sidi Abderrahmane, a landmark locality for Middle Pleistocene archaeology in Northwest Africa.

From Science Daily • Feb. 7, 2026

“The playa,” a nearly six-square-mile patch on a 200-mile Pleistocene era lakebed, is what Burners call the festival zone.

From Salon • Sep. 2, 2025

Martin’s books rather than living, breathing replicas of the actual prehistoric carnivores that hunted bison, horses, camels, and baby mammoths in packs during the Pleistocene.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2025

Recall that Siberia has always been cold, and that a continuous ice sheet stretched as an impassable barrier across the whole width of Canada during much of the Pleistocene Ice Ages.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond