The
last glacial period, popularly known as the
Ice Age, was the most recent
glacial period within the
Quaternary glaciation occurring during the last 100,000 years of the
Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. Scientists consider this "
ice age" to be merely the latest glaciation event in a much larger ice age, one that dates back over two million years and has seen multiple glaciations.