Discover the remarkable history of the Great Ice Age...

On a human scale, the climate is something that may seem fixed and unchanging, but on a geological scale, our planet has been subject to vast periods when the climate has been notably warmer or colder than it is today. Perhaps the most famous of these fluctuations in the climate was the Great Ice Age.

We now know that Earth has been subject to at least five ice ages, with the first occurring over 2.5 billion years ago. The most recent, the Great Ice Age (also known as the Quaternary or Pleistocene Ice Age), gripped planet Earth from around 2.5 million years ago and saw its last glacial period end about 11,700 years ago. This ice age witnessed the development of modern humans and the evolution of the first human societies.

While these are ancient events, they do have direct relevance to the world in which we live today. Scientists have spent a great deal of time looking at the Great Ice Age, principally because understanding it could help us understand the complex web of linked factors that lead to climate change. That, in turn, may help us to understand the changes in climate we seem to be facing today. This is the fascinating story of the Great Ice Age.

Discover a plethora of topics such as

• The Changing Climate History of Planet Earth
• What Causes Ice Ages?
• The Pleistocene Epoch
• Flora and Fauna
• Humans during the Ice Age
• Has the Ice Age Ended?
• And much more!