The
Quaternary Period is the current and most recent of the three
periods of the
Cenozoic Era in the
geologic time scale of the
International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the
Neogene Period and spans from 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present. The Quaternary Period is divided into two epochs: the
Pleistocene (2.588 million years ago to 11.7 thousand years ago) and the
Holocene (11.7 thousand years ago to today). The informal term "Late Quaternary" refers to the past 0.5–1.0 million years.