Late Pleistocene

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Quaternary Period This box: view • talk • edit
↑ Neogene
Pliocene Zanclean (5.3 - 3.6 Ma) Piacenzian (3.6 - 2.6 Ma) Gelasian (2.6 - 1.8 Ma) Pleistocene Early Pleistocene (1.8 - 0.78 Ma) Middle Pleistocene (780 - 130 ka) Late Pleistocene (130 - 10 ka) Older Dryas (14 - 13.6 ka) Allerød (13.6 - 12.9 ka) Younger Dryas (12.9 - 11.5 ka) Holocene (10 ka - present) Boreal Atlantic

The Late Pleistocene (also known as Upper Pleistocene or the Tarantian) is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of Eemian interglacial phase before final glacial episode of Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP ("before present"). The stage is followed by Holocene.

Much of the Late Pleistocene Epoch was dominated by glaciation (the Wisconsin glaciation in North America and corresponding glacial periods in Eurasia). Many megafauna become extinct over this period, a trend that continued into Holocene. Also, human species other than the modern human died out. Humanity spread to every continent except for Antarctica during the Late Pleistocene.