Eras

Holocene

HOL-uh-seen

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Holocene." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/eras/holocene.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Holocene. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/eras/holocene

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-holocene,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Holocene},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/eras/holocene},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The current epoch, beginning as the last glacial period ended, and covering the whole of recorded human history: agriculture, cities, writing, all of it Holocene.

Facts

Rank

Epoch 1

Start (Million Years Ago)

0.0117 1

Approximately 11,700 years ago per the cited article; the epoch is ongoing, so no end-mya is written.

End (Million Years Ago)

0 2

The Holocene is the current, ongoing epoch; 0 Mya marks the present day, the standard geologic timescale convention for an open upper boundary.

Key Event

The retreat of the last ice sheets and the entire span of recorded human civilization, agriculture onward. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Anthropocene

Why this is disputed. Anthropocene is proposed as the epoch succeeding the Holocene, but the International Commission on Stratigraphy rejected formal ratification in 2024, so the Holocene remains the current live epoch of the geologic time scale.