# Pleistocene **Domain:** Geologic Time / Human Evolution / Climate **Doc Type:** Canonical Period Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition The **Pleistocene** is the geologic epoch from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, characterized by repeated glacial cycles and major evolutionary and geographic change. The genus _Homo_ diversified during it, and modern humans emerged late in the epoch. ## Nexus Context The La Brea Tar Pits preserve a dense late-Pleistocene record inside modern Los Angeles. [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] begins there to establish a central method: landscapes retain historical state even when later systems cover it. This is [[wiki/Technical Archaeology|Technical Archaeology]] at geological scale. Fossils, sediments and preserved ecosystems are evidence from which a vanished process is reconstructed. The analogy to digital continuity is methodological, not ontological: preserved traces can support reconstruction without proving the continuing presence of the original subject. ## Sources / Provenance - International Commission on Stratigraphy, International Chronostratigraphic Chart: https://stratigraphy.org/chart - La Brea Tar Pits research and collections: https://tarpits.org/research-collections ## See Also [[wiki/Fossil Record|Fossil Record]], [[wiki/Paleontology|Paleontology]], [[wiki/Continuity Evidence vs Continuity|Continuity Evidence vs Continuity]]