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[[File:Map of Alpine Glaciations.png|thumb|Violet: Extent of the Alpine ice sheet in the [[Würm glaciation]]. Blue: Extent in earlier ice ages.]]
The '''Late Pleistocene''' is an unofficial [[Age (geology)|age]] in the international [[geologic timescale]] in [[chronostratigraphy]], also known as the '''
The term Upper Pleistocene is currently in use as a provisional or "quasi-formal" designation by the [[International Union of Geological Sciences]] (IUGS). Although the three oldest ages of the Pleistocene (the [[Gelasian]], the [[Calabrian (stage)|Calabrian]] and the [[Chibanian]]) have been officially defined, the late Pleistocene has yet to be formally defined.<ref name="Gibbard">{{cite journal |author1= P. L. Gibbard |title=The Quaternary System/Period and its major subdivisions |journal=Russian Geology and Geophysics |date=2015 |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=686–688 |doi=10.1016/j.rgg.2015.03.015|bibcode=2015RuGG...56..686G }}</ref>
Following the brief Last Interglacial warm period (~130-115,000 years ago), where temperatures were comparable to or warmer than the Holocene, the Late Pleistocene was dominated by the cool [[Last Glacial Period]], with temperatures graduate lowering
Most of the world's large ([[megafauna]]l) animals became extinct during the Late Pleistocene as part of the [[Late Pleistocene extinctions]], a trend that continued into the Holocene. In [[palaeoanthropology]], the late Pleistocene contains the [[Upper Palaeolithic]] stage of human development, including the [[early human migrations]] of modern humans outside of Africa, and the extinction of
==Last Ice Age==
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The [[Last Glacial Maximum]] was reached during the later millennia of the Würm/Weichselian, estimated between 26 ka and 19 ka when deglaciation began in the Northern Hemisphere. The Würm/Weichselian endured until 16 ka with Northern Europe, including most of [[Great Britain]], covered by an ice sheet. The glaciers reached the [[Great Lakes]] in North America.<ref name="FRS"/> Sea levels fell and two [[land bridge]]s were temporarily in existence that had significance for [[human migration]]: [[Doggerland]], which connected Great Britain to mainland Europe; and the [[Bering land bridge]] which joined [[Alaska]] to [[Siberia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12244964 |title=The moment Great Britain became an island |last=Lane |first=Megan |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=15 February 2011 | access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="BLB">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfu.museum/journey/an-en/postsecondaire-postsecondary/pont_beringie-beringia_bridge |title=Bering Land Bridge |first=Barbara |last=Winter |publisher=SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology |access-date=2 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428231158/http://www.sfu.museum/journey/an-en/postsecondaire-postsecondary/pont_beringie-beringia_bridge |archive-date=28 April 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The
The end of the Younger Dryas marks the boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs.
==Africa==
Its present physical geography and climate
The Late Pleistocene was the time when most animals evolved to resemble modern-day [[animal]]s and they managed to live through the Late mid-Pleistocene since there were no extinction events of [[megafauna]] until the end of the Late Pleistocene.<ref name=":03"/>
Some species which went extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene in Southern Africa are the [[Metridiochoerus|
[[File:Nazlet_Khater_Skeleton_from_above.jpg|thumb|image of Nazlet Khater skeleton found in Upper Egypt showing early human culture dating back to
In [[Egypt]], the Late (or Upper) [[Palaeolithic]] began sometime after 30,000 BC. People in North Africa had relocated to the [[Nile Valley]] as the [[Sahara]] was transformed from grassland to desert.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/history/paleolithic%20egypt.htm| title=Ancient Egyptian Culture: Palaeolithic Egypt |work=Emuseum |publisher=Minnesota State University |date=2002 |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601171500/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/history/paleolithic%20egypt.htm |archive-date=1 June 2010}}</ref> The [[Nazlet Khater]] skeleton was found in 1980 and has been [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to between 30,360 and 35,100 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Willoughby |first1=Pamela R. |title=The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa: A Comprehensive Guide |date=2007 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=978-0759101197 |pages=181–182}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=L. |last1=Bouchneba |first2=I. |last2=Crevecoeur |title=The inner ear of Nazlet Khater 2 (Upper Palaeolithic, Egypt) |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=56 |issue=3 |year=2009 |pages=257–262 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.12.003 |pmid=19144388}}</ref>
Most of the knowledge of the Late Pleistocene is
==Eurasia==
[[Neanderthal]] hominins (''Homo neanderthalensis'') inhabited Eurasia until becoming extinct between 40 and 30 ka
In Eurasia, extinction happened throughout the
Upper
[[Magdalenian]] hunter-gatherers were widespread in western Europe about 20 -12.500 [[cal BP]] years ago until the end of the Pleistocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bicho |first1=Nuno |last2=Haws |first2=Jonathan |date=2012-09-12 |title=The Magdalenian in central and southern Portugal: Human ecology at the end of the Pleistocene |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618212001449 |journal=Quaternary International |series=The Magdalenian Settlement of Europe |volume=272-273 |pages=6–16 |bibcode=2012QuInt.272....6B |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2012.02.055
Climatic conditions during the Late Pleistocene in Eurasia were predominantly cold with [[glaciation]] events happening in [[northern Europe]], northwest [[Siberia]] and [[Alps|the Alps]] and [[Interglacial|interglacials]] (temperate phase).
The only domesticated animal in the Pleistocene was the [[dog]], which evolved from the [[wolf|grey wolf]] into its many modern [[dog breeds|breeds]]. It is believed that the grey wolf became associated with hunter-gatherer tribes around 15
A butchered [[brown bear]] [[patella]] found in [[Alice and Gwendoline Cave]] in [[County Clare]] and dated to 10,860 to 10,641 BC indicates the first known human activity in [[Ireland]].<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Dowd, Marion|title = A Remarkable Cave Discovery|year=2016|journal=Archaeology Ireland|volume=30|issue=2|pages=21–25|jstor = 43816774}}</ref>
==Far East==
[[File:Geodispersal_at_Bering_Land_Bridge.png|thumb|image showing the Bering land bridge created during the Late Pleistocene]]
The very first human habitation in the [[Japanese archipelago]] has been traced to [[Japanese Paleolithic|prehistoric times]] between 40,000 BC and 30,000 BC. The earliest fossils are [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to c. 35,000 BC. Japan was once linked to the Asian mainland by land bridges via [[Hokkaido]] and [[Sakhalin]] Island to the north, but was unconnected at this time when the main islands of Hokkaido, [[Honshu]], [[Kyushu]] and [[Shikoku]] were all separate entities.<ref name="Fujita2016">{{cite journal |last=Fujita |first=Masaki |title=Advanced maritime adaptation in the western Pacific coastal region extends back to 35,000–30,000 years before present |date=2016 |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=113 |issue=40 |pages=11184–11189 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1607857113 |pmid=27638208 |pmc=5056111|bibcode=2016PNAS..11311184F |doi-access=free }}</ref>▼
The [[topography]] and [[geography]] of Asia were subject to frequent changes such as the creation of [[Land bridge|land bridges]] when sea levels dropped which helped with the expansion and migration of [[Human population|human populations]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wooller |first1=Matthew J. |last2=Saulnier-Talbot |first2=Émilie |last3=Potter |first3=Ben A. |last4=Belmecheri |first4=Soumaya |last5=Bigelow |first5=Nancy |last6=Choy |first6=Kyungcheol |last7=Cwynar |first7=Les C. |last8=Davies |first8=Kimberley |last9=Graham |first9=Russell W. |last10=Kurek |first10=Joshua |last11=Langdon |first11=Peter |last12=Medeiros |first12=Andrew |last13=Rawcliffe |first13=Ruth |last14=Wang |first14=Yue |last15=Williams |first15=John W. |date=June 2018 |title=A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=180145 |bibcode=2018RSOS....580145W |doi=10.1098/rsos.180145 |issn=2054-5703 |pmc=6030284 |pmid=30110451}}</ref> The first human habitation in the [[Japanese archipelago]] has been traced to [[Japanese Paleolithic|prehistoric times]] between 40,000 BC and 30,000 BC. The earliest fossils are [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to c. 35,000 BC. An archeological record of Neanderthals has been found in Asia along with records of two other hominin populations, the [[Denisovan|Denisovans]] and ''[[Homo floresiensis]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Reich |first1=David |last2=Green |first2=Richard E. |last3=Kircher |first3=Martin |last4=Krause |first4=Johannes |last5=Patterson |first5=Nick |last6=Durand |first6=Eric Y. |last7=Viola |first7=Bence |last8=Briggs |first8=Adrian W. |last9=Stenzel |first9=Udo |last10=Johnson |first10=Philip L. F. |last11=Maricic |first11=Tomislav |last12=Good |first12=Jeffrey M. |last13=Marques-Bonet |first13=Tomas |last14=Alkan |first14=Can |last15=Fu |first15=Qiaomei |date=December 2010 |title=Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=468 |issue=7327 |pages=1053–1060 |bibcode=2010Natur.468.1053R |doi=10.1038/nature09710 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=4306417 |pmid=21179161}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=P. |last2=Sutikna |first2=T. |last3=Morwood |first3=M. J. |last4=Soejono |first4=R. P. |last5=Jatmiko |last6=Wayhu Saptomo |first6=E. |last7=Awe Due |first7=Rokus |date=October 2004 |title=A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02999 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=431 |issue=7012 |pages=1055–1061 |bibcode=2004Natur.431.1055B |doi=10.1038/nature02999 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=15514638}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sutikna |first1=Thomas |last2=Tocheri |first2=Matthew W. |last3=Morwood |first3=Michael J. |last4=Saptomo |first4=E. Wahyu |last5=Jatmiko |last6=Awe |first6=Rokus Due |last7=Wasisto |first7=Sri |last8=Westaway |first8=Kira E. |last9=Aubert |first9=Maxime |last10=Li |first10=Bo |last11=Zhao |first11=Jian-xin |last12=Storey |first12=Michael |last13=Alloway |first13=Brent V. |last14=Morley |first14=Mike W. |last15=Meijer |first15=Hanneke J. M. |date=2016-04-21 |title=Revised stratigraphy and chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17179 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=532 |issue=7599 |pages=366–369 |bibcode=2016Natur.532..366S |doi=10.1038/nature17179 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=27027286}}</ref>
▲
==North America==
Human migrations happened
▲Human migrations happened from during this time with people coming in from [[Eurasia]]. From about 28 ka, there were migrations across the [[Beringia|Bering land bridge]] from [[Siberia]] to [[Alaska]].. The people became the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]]. It is believed that the original tribes subsequently moved down to Central and South America under pressure from later migrations.<ref name="BLB"/>{{sfn|Teeple|2002|pp=12–13}}
In the [[North American land mammal age]] scale, the [[Rancholabrean]] spans the time from c. 240,000 years ago to c. 11,000 years ago. It is named after the [[Rancho La Brea]] fossil site in [[California]],
''[[Bison occidentalis]]'' and ''[[Bison antiquus]]'', an extinct subspecies of the smaller present-day bison, survived the late Pleistocene period, between about 12 and 11 [[kiloannum|ka]] ago. [[Clovis culture|Clovis]]
▲''[[Bison occidentalis]]'' and ''[[Bison antiquus]]'', an extinct subspecies of the smaller present-day bison, survived the late Pleistocene period, between about 12 and 11 [[kiloannum|ka]] ago. [[Clovis culture|Clovis]] peoples depended on these bison as their major food source. Earlier kills of camels, horses, and muskoxen found at [[Wally's beach]] were dated to 13.1–13.3 ka B.P.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Michael R. Waters |author2=Thomas W. Stafford Jr. |author3=Brian Kooyman |author4=L. V. Hills |title=Late Pleistocene horse and camel hunting at the southern margin of the ice-free corridor: Reassessing the age of Wally's Beach, Canada |journal=[[PNAS]] |volume=112 |issue=14 |pages=4263–4267 |date=23 March 2015 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1420650112 |pmid=25831543 |pmc=4394292|bibcode=2015PNAS..112.4263W |doi-access=free }}</ref>
== South America ==
{{Expand section|date=June 2020}}
The Late Pleistocene saw a change in the use of coastal resources and advancements in marine technology. The reasons for these changes have not been confirmed; various triggering mechanisms have been theorized such as [[climate change]], the arrival of new people, or the struggle for resources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dillehay |first=Tom D. |date=1999 |title=The late Pleistocene cultures of South America |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1999)7:63.0.CO;2-G |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews |language=en |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=206–216 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1999)7:6<206::AID-EVAN5>3.0.CO;2-G |issn=1060-1538}}</ref>
The [[South American land mammal age]], the [[Lujanian]], corresponds with the late Pleistocene. The [[Lujanian]] is a geologic period from 0.8 - 0.11Ma specifically for prehistoric [[South America|South American]] fauna.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Flynn |first1=John J. |title=Cenozoic South American Land Mammal AgesCorrelation to Global Geochronologies |date=1995 |work=Geochronology, Time Scales and Global Stratigraphic Correlation |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/%201041/chapter/10529000 |access-date=2024-04-18 |publisher=SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology |language=en |doi=10.2110/pec.95.04.0317 |isbn=978-1-56576-091-2 |last2=Swisher |first2=Carl C.}}</ref>
==Oceania==
There is evidence of human habitation in mainland [[Australia]], [[Indonesia]], [[New Guinea]] and [[Tasmania]] from c. 45,000 BC. The finds include rock engravings, stone tools and evidence of cave habitation.{{sfn|Teeple|2002|p=13}}
In Australia, there are sites which
In general, various reasons have been stated to have
== References ==
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