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The Holocene began 11,550 years ago and is the current geological period. It saw the rise of human civilization, technological advancement, and population growth. Glaciers melted, allowing for human colonization and the emergence of new species. The Neolithic Revolution and the Bronze Age occurred during this period.
The Holocene is the geological period we are currently in. It began 11,550 years ago, about 9,600 BC. The Holocene begins approximately when the last non-human member of the Homo genus, Homo floresiensis, became extinct. It was also the end of the Younger Dryas cold snap and the Wisconsin glaciation, during which large areas of Canada, northern Europe and Asia were covered in 2-3 km thick sheets of ice. This most recent 52,000-year glaciation created many of the most beautiful landscapes in the Northern Hemisphere. The Holocene was preceded by the Pleistocene, during which most of the evolution of our species took place. The Pleistocene began 1.8 million years ago.
All human civilization occurred during the Holocene. Some historians place the earliest evidence of civilization at 9500 BC, the age of the oldest known granary, only 100 years after the start of the Holocene. The oldest Japanese pottery dates back to 10,000 BC. The oldest known human settlement, Jericho, was founded around 9000 BC. About 3500 BC was the beginning of the Bronze Age, when mankind finally moved beyond the use of stone to make tools. The dawn of agriculture is generally placed around 8000 BC.
Around the start of the Holocene, the world’s human population was approximately 5 million. Today the human population is approaching 7 billion. Clearly, the most obvious hallmark of the Holocene period so far is humanity’s meteoric rise in both population and technological advancement. We went from using stone tools, to bronze, to iron, and then to a variety of synthetic materials including plastics and advanced alloys.
In the early Holocene, glaciers melted on a massive scale, opening up many millions of square miles for human colonization and simply making life easier for Homo sapiens. The Holocene saw the emergence of new species such as the domestic dog and cat and the success of species that thrived on human expansion, such as the house mouse and raccoon. The Holocene began with the Neolithic Revolution, in which human culture exploded and cheap methods of food production, such as the use of pack animals for agriculture, became popular.
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