The Last Glacial Period was the most recent glacial period of the current ice age, lasting from about 115,000 years ago to about 11,700 years ago, and it is popularly known as the last ice age. During this time huge ice sheets covered much of Canada, northern Europe and parts of Asia, and the sea level fell by over a hundred metres, which exposed land bridges such as Beringia between Siberia and Alaska. The coldest phase, the Last Glacial Maximum, occurred about twenty thousand years ago. Humans moved into the Americas and Australia, and the Neanderthals died out during this time. The period ended with the warming that began the Holocene, after a brief return to cold known as the Younger Dryas.
Before and after
- about 2.6 million years agoOldowan
- from about 1.76 million years ago to 150,000 years agoAcheulean
- from about 315,000 years ago to 33,000 years agoMousterian
- from about 302,000 years ago to 32,000 years agoMiddle Paleolithic
- from about 115,000 years ago to 10th millennium BCELast Glacial Period
- about 75,100 years agoSymbolic engraving at Blombos Cave
- about 51,300 years agoSulawesi cave art is made
- from about 50,000 years ago to 2nd millenniumPre-Columbian era
- from about 50,000 years ago to 9,726 years agoUpper Paleolithic
More in Earth & climate
- c. 8,750 BCEEruption of Ulleungdo
- c. 8,400 BCEEruption of Michinmahuida
- c. 7,420 BCEEruption of Fisher
- c. 6,300 BCEEruption of Aniakchak
- c. 5,900 BCEEruption of Crater Lake
- c. 4,350 BCEEruption of Kikai
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.