View source for Holocene

{{Short description|Current geological epoch}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Recent Era|the human sense|Human history#Modern}}
{{Infobox geologic timespan
| name                         = Holocene
| color                        = Holocene
| time_start                   = 0.0117
| time_end                     = 0
| image_map                    = File:Mollweide.jpg
| caption_map                  = Map of Earth as it appears during the current Holocene Epoch, Meghalayan Age
| image_outcrop                =
| caption_outcrop              =
| image_art                    =
| caption_art                  =
<!--Chronology--> 
| timeline                     = Holocene
| former_subdivisions          =
| formerly_part_of             =
| partially_contained_in       =
| partially_contains           =
<!--Etymology-->
| name_formality               = Formal
| name_accept_date             =
| alternate_spellings          =
| synonym1                     =
| synonym1_coined              =
| synonym2                     =
| synonym2_coined              =
| synonym3                     =
| synonym3_coined              =
| nicknames                    =
| former_names                 =
| proposed_names               =
<!--Usage Information-->
| celestial_body               = earth
| usage                        = Global ([[International Commission on Stratigraphy|ICS]])
| timescales_used              = ICS Time Scale
| formerly_used_by             =
| not_used_by                  =
<!--Definition-->
| chrono_unit                  = Epoch
| strat_unit                   = Series
| proposed_by                  =
| timespan_formality           = Formal
| lower_boundary_def           = End of the [[Younger Dryas]] [[stadial]].
| lower_gssp_location          = [[North Greenland Ice Core Project|NGRIP2]] ice core, [[Greenland]]
| lower_gssp_coords            = {{Coord|75.1000|N|42.3200|W|display=inline}}
| lower_gssp_accept_date       = 2008<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walker |first1=Mike |last2=Johnse |first2=Sigfus |last3=Rasmussen |first3=Sune |last4=Steffensen |first4=Jørgen-Peder |last5=Popp |first5=Trevor |last6=Gibbard |first6=Phillip |last7=Hoek |first7=Wilm |last8=Lowe |first8=John |last9=Andrews |first9=John |last10=Björck |first10=Svante |last11=Cwynar |first11=Les |last12=Hughen |first12=Konrad |last13=Kershaw |first13=Peter |last14=Kromer |first14=Bernd |last15=Litt |first15=Thomas |last16=Lowe |first16=David |last17=Nakagawa |first17=Takeshi |last18=Newnham |first18=Rewi |last19=Schwande |first19=Jakob |title=The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Period) in the NGRIP ice core |journal=[[Episodes (journal)|Episodes]] |date=June 2008 |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=264–267 |doi=10.18814/epiiugs/2008/v31i2/016 |bibcode=2008Episo..31..264W |doi-access=free |hdl=10289/920 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
| upper_boundary_def           = [[Present day]]
| upper_gssp_location          = N/A
| upper_gssp_coords            = N/A
| upper_gssp_accept_date       = N/A
<!--Atmospheric and Climatic Data-->
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| sea_level                    =
}}

The '''Holocene''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɒ|l|.|ə|s|iː|n|,_|-|oʊ|-|,_|ˈ|h|oʊ|.|l|ə|-|,_|-|l|oʊ|-}})<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|Holocene |access-date=2018-02-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite Dictionary.com |Holocene |access-date=2018-02-11}}</ref> is the current [[geologic time scale|geological epoch]], beginning approximately 11,700 years ago.<ref name="Walker, M. 2009. pp. 3"/> It follows the [[Last Glacial Period]], which concluded with the [[Holocene glacial retreat]].<ref name="Walker, M. 2009. pp. 3">{{cite journal |last1=Walker |first1=Mike |first2=Sigfus |last2=Johnsen |first3=Sune Olander |last3=Rasmussen |first4=Trevor |last4=Popp |first5=Jorgen-Peder |last5=Steffensen |first6=Phil |last6=Gibrard |first7=Wim |last7=Hoek |first8=John |last8=Lowe |first9=John |last9=Andrews |first10=Svante |last10=Bjo Rck |first11=Les C. |last11=Cwynar |first12=Konrad |last12=Hughen |first13=Peter |last13=Kersahw |first14=Bernd |last14=Kromer |first15=Thomas |last15=Litt |first16=David J. |last16=Lowe |first17=Takeshi |last17=Nakagawa |first18=Rewi |last18=Newnham |first19=Jakob |last19=Schwander |year=2009 |title=Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records |url=https://stratigraphy.org/GSSP/Holocene.pdf |journal=[[Journal of Quaternary Science]] |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=3–17 |doi=10.1002/jqs.1227 |bibcode=2009JQS....24....3W |doi-access=free |access-date=2013-09-03 |archive-date=2013-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104131948/http://www.stratigraphy.org/GSSP/Holocene.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Holocene and the preceding [[Pleistocene]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale |title=International Chronostratigraphic Chart |last1=Fan |first1=Junxuan |last2=Hou |first2=Xudong |work=[[International Commission on Stratigraphy]] |access-date=June 18, 2016 |archive-date=January 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113013553/http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale |url-status=live}}</ref> together form the [[Quaternary]] period. The Holocene is an [[interglacial]] period within the ongoing [[Ice age|glacial cycles]] of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to [[Marine isotope stages|Marine Isotope Stage 1]].

The Holocene correlates with the last maximum [[axial tilt]] towards the Sun of the [[Earth#Axial tilt and seasons|Earth's obliquity]]. The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth, and impacts of the [[human species]] worldwide, hence the Holocene is often commonly referred to as the '''Age of Humans''', including [[Recorded history|all of its written history]], [[technological revolution]]s, development of major [[civilization]]s, and overall significant transition towards [[urban culture|urban living]] in the present. The human impact on modern-era [[Earth]] and its [[ecosystem]]s may be considered of global significance for the future evolution of living species, including approximately synchronous [[lithosphere|lithospheric]] evidence, or more recently [[Hydrosphere|hydrospheric]] and [[Atmosphere|atmospheric]] evidence of the human impact.

Following [[Late Pleistocene extinctions|the extinction of most large terrestrial mammals outside of Africa]] during the preceding [[Late Pleistocene]], the ecosystems of the Holocene continued to be impacted by extinctions (the ongoing [[Holocene extinction]]), largely of human causation.

In July 2018, the [[International Union of Geological Sciences]] split the Holocene Epoch into three distinct [[Age (geology)|ages]] based on the climate, [[Greenlandian]] (11,700 years ago to 8,200 years ago), [[Northgrippian]] (8,200 years ago to 4,200 years ago) and [[Meghalayan]] (4,200 years ago to the present), as proposed by the [[International Commission on Stratigraphy]].<ref name="Amos-2018">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44868527 |title=Welcome to the Meghalayan Age a new phase in history |work=BBC News |date=2018-07-18 |last1=Amos |first1=Jonathan |access-date=2018-07-18 |archive-date=2018-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718211344/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44868527 |url-status=live}}</ref> The oldest age, the Greenlandian, was characterized by a warming following the preceding ice age. The Northgrippian Age is known for vast cooling due to a disruption in ocean circulations that was caused by the melting of glaciers. The most recent age of the Holocene is the present Meghalayan, which began with extreme drought that lasted around 200 years.<ref name="Amos-2018" />

==Etymology==
The word "Holocene" comes from [[Ancient Greek]] [[wikt:ὅλος|ὅλος]] (''hólos''), {{lit|whole}}, and [[wikt:καινός|καινός]] (''kainós''), {{lit|new|recent}}, referring that this epoch is "entirely new".<ref>The name "Holocene" was proposed in 1850 by the French palaeontologist and entomologist [[Paul Gervais]] (1816–1879): {{cite journal |last1=Gervais |first1=Paul |title=Sur la répartition des mammifères fossiles entre les différents étages tertiaires qui concourent à former le sol de la France |journal=Académie des Sciences et Lettres de Montpellier. Section des Sciences |year=1850 |volume=1 |pages=399–413 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012332287;view=1up;seq=438 |trans-title=On the distribution of mammalian fossils among the different tertiary stages which help to form the ground of France |language=fr |access-date=2018-07-15 |archive-date=2020-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522050041/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012332287;view=1up;seq=438 |url-status=live }} [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012332287;view=1up;seq=453 From p. 413:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522050040/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012332287;view=1up;seq=453 |date=2020-05-22 }} ''"On pourrait aussi appeler ''Holocènes'', ceux de l'époque historique, ou dont le dépôt n'est pas antérieur à la présence de l'homme; … "'' (One could also call "Holocene" those [deposits] of the historic era, or the deposit of which is not prior to the presence of man; … )</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Origin and meaning of Holocene |website=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/holocene |access-date=2019-08-08 |archive-date=2019-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808161149/https://www.etymonline.com/word/holocene |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/-cene |title=Origin and meaning of suffix -cene |website=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |access-date=2019-08-08 |archive-date=2019-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808161147/https://www.etymonline.com/word/-cene |url-status=live}}</ref> The suffix '-cene' is used for all the seven epochs of the [[Cenozoic]] Era.

==Overview==
The [[International Commission on Stratigraphy]] has defined the Holocene as starting approximately 11,700 years before 2000 [[Common Era|CE]] (11,650 [[Radiocarbon calibration|cal]] years [[Before present|BP]], or 9,700 BCE).<ref name="Walker, M. 2009. pp. 3"/> The Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) regards the term 'recent' as an incorrect way of referring to the Holocene, preferring the term 'modern' instead to describe current processes. It also observes that the term 'Flandrian' may be used as a synonym for Holocene, although it is becoming outdated.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Gibbard |first1=P. L. |title=Chapter 30 – The Quaternary Period |date=2020-01-01 |work=Geologic Time Scale 2020 |pages=1217–1255 |editor-last=Gradstein |editor-first=Felix M. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128243602000309 |access-date=2022-04-21 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |isbn=978-0-12-824360-2 |last2=Head |first2=M. J. |editor2-last=Ogg |editor2-first=James G. |editor3-last=Schmitz |editor3-first=Mark D. |editor4-last=Ogg |editor4-first=Gabi M.}}.</ref> The International Commission on Stratigraphy, however, considers the Holocene to be an epoch following the [[Pleistocene]] and specifically following the [[last glacial period]]. Local names for the [[Late Pleistocene|last glacial period]] include the [[Wisconsin glaciation|Wisconsinan]] in [[North America]],<ref name=Clayton1982>{{cite journal |last1=Clayton |first1=Lee |last2=Moran |first2=Stephen R. |title=Chronology of late wisconsinan glaciation in middle North America |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |year=1982 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=55–82 |doi=10.1016/0277-3791(82)90019-1 |bibcode=1982QSRv....1...55C }}</ref> the [[Weichselian glaciation|Weichselian]] in Europe,<ref name=Svendsen1999>{{cite journal |last1=Svendsen |first1=John Inge |last2=Astakhov |first2=Valery I. |last3=Bolshiyanov |first3=Dimitri Yu. |last4=Demidov |first4=Igor |last5=Dowdeswell |first5=Julian A. |last6=Gataullin |first6=Valery |last7=Hjort |first7=Christian |last8=Hubberten |first8=Hans W. |last9=Larsen |first9=Eiliv |last10=Mangerud |first10=Jan |last11=Melles |first11=Martin |last12=Moller |first12=Per |last13=Saarnisto |first13=Matti |last14=Siegert |first14=Martin J. |title=Maximum extent of the Eurasian ice sheets in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Weichselian |url=http://www.folk.uib.no/ngljm/PDF_files/SVENDSEN99.PDF |journal=[[Boreas (journal)|Boreas]] |date=March 1999 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=234–242 |doi=10.1111/j.1502-3885.1999.tb00217.x |bibcode=1999Borea..28..234S |s2cid=34659675 |access-date=2018-02-11 |archive-date=2018-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212083433/http://www.folk.uib.no/ngljm/PDF_files/SVENDSEN99.PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref> the Devensian in Britain,<ref name=Eyles1989>{{cite journal |last1=Eyles |first1=Nicholas |last2=McCabe |first2=A. Marshall |title=The Late Devensian (<22,000 BP) Irish Sea Basin: The sedimentary record of a collapsed ice sheet margin |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |year=1989 |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=307–351 |doi=10.1016/0277-3791(89)90034-6 |bibcode=1989QSRv....8..307E }}</ref> the [[Llanquihue glaciation|Llanquihue]] in Chile<ref name="Denton1999">{{cite journal |last1=Denton |first1=G. H. |last2=Lowell |first2=T. V. |last3=Heusser |first3=C. J. |last4=Schluchter |first4=C. |last5=Andersern |first5=B. G. |last6=Heusser |first6=Linda E. |last7=Moreno |first7=P. I. |last8=Marchant |first8=D. R. |year=1999 |title=Geomorphology, stratigraphy, and radiocarbon chronology of LlanquihueDrift in the area of the Southern Lake District, Seno Reloncavi, and Isla Grande de Chiloe, Chile |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6b41/4b24c6c33c9e713f114ae1692ada693e2517.pdf |journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography |volume=81A |issue=2 |pages=167–229 |bibcode=1999GeAnA..81..167D |doi=10.1111/1468-0459.00057 |s2cid=7626031 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212084400/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6b41/4b24c6c33c9e713f114ae1692ada693e2517.pdf |archive-date=2018-02-12}}</ref> and the Otiran in New Zealand.<ref name="Newnham2007">{{cite journal |last1=Newnham |first1=R. M. |last2=Vandergoes |first2=M. J. |last3=Hendy |first3=C. H. |last4=Lowe |first4=D. J. |last5=Preusser |first5=F. |date=February 2007 |title=A terrestrial palynological record for the last two glacial cycles from southwestern New Zealand |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |pages=517–535 |bibcode=2007QSRv...26..517N |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.05.005}}</ref>

The Holocene can be subdivided into five time intervals, or [[chronozone]]s, based on climatic fluctuations:<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden: a proposal for terminology and classification |date=October 1, 1974 |url=http://folk.uib.no/ngljm/PDF_files/Mangerud%20et%20al%201974,%20Quat%20stratigraphy%20Norden.PDF |journal=[[Boreas (journal)|Boreas]] |last1= Mangerud |first1= Jan |last2= Anderson |first2= Svend T. |last3= Berglund |first3= Bjorn E. |last4=Donner |first4=Joakim J. |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=109–128 |doi=10.1111/j.1502-3885.1974.tb00669.x |bibcode=1974Borea...3..109M |access-date=September 15, 2013 |archive-date=February 16, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200216182249/https://folk.uib.no/ngljm/PDF_files/Mangerud%20et%20al%201974,%20Quat%20stratigraphy%20Norden.PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Update inline|date=April 2023|?=yes|reason=Does this still hold after so many years? Holocene start date was redefined 35 years after these climatic chronzone dates}}
* [[Preboreal]] (10 ka–9 ka BP),
* [[Boreal (age)|Boreal]] (9 ka–8 ka BP),
* [[Atlantic (period)|Atlantic]] (8 ka–5 ka BP),
* [[Subboreal]] (5 ka–2.5 ka BP) and
* [[Subatlantic]] (2.5 ka BP–present).
: ''Note: "[[year|ka]] BP" means "kilo-annum [[Before Present]]", i.e. 1,000 years before 1950 (non-calibrated [[Radiocarbon dating|C14 dates]])''

Geologists working in different regions are studying sea levels, peat bogs, and [[ice core|ice-core]] samples, using a variety of methods, with a view toward further verifying and refining the [[Blytt-Sernander sequence|Blytt–Sernander sequence]]. This is a classification of climatic periods initially defined by plant remains in [[peat moss]]es.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Viau |first1= André E. |last2= Gajewski |first2= Konrad |last3= Fines |first3= Philippe |last4= Atkinson |first4= David E. |last5= Sawada |first5= Michael C. |title= Widespread evidence of 1500 yr climate variability in North America during the past 14 000 yr |journal=Geology |date=1 May 2002 |volume=30 |issue= 5 |pages= 455–458 |doi= 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0455:WEOYCV>2.0.CO;2|bibcode= 2002Geo....30..455V }}</ref> Though the method was once thought to be of little interest, based on <sup>14</sup>C dating of peats that was inconsistent with the claimed chronozones,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Blackford |first1=J. |title=Peat bogs as sources of proxy climatic data: Past approaches and future research |year=1993 |encyclopedia=Climate change and human impact on the landscape |pages= 47–56 |publisher= Springer |location= Dordrecht |doi= 10.1007/978-94-010-9176-3_5 |isbn= 978-0-412-61860-4 |url= https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-94-010-9176-3_5.pdf |access-date= 20 November 2020}}</ref> investigators have found a general correspondence across [[Eurasia]] and [[North America]]. The scheme was defined for [[Northern Europe]], but the [[Climate variability and change|climate changes]] were claimed to occur more widely. The periods of the scheme include a few of the final pre-Holocene oscillations of the last glacial period and then classify climates of more recent [[prehistory]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schrøder |first1=N. |last2=Højlund Pedersen |first2=L. |last3=Juel Bitsch |first3= R. |year= 2004 |title= 10,000 years of climate change and human impact on the environment in the area surrounding Lejre |journal=The Journal of Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies |volume=3 |number=1 |pages= 1–27}}</ref>

[[Paleontologists]] have not defined any [[faunal stage]]s for the Holocene. If subdivision is necessary, periods of human technological development, such as the [[Mesolithic]], [[Neolithic]], and [[Bronze Age]], are usually used. However, the time periods referenced by these terms vary with the emergence of those technologies in different parts of the world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Middle Ages {{!}} Definition, Dates, Characteristics, & Facts |url= https://www.britannica.com/event/Middle-Ages|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language= en|archive-date=2021-06-11|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210611203625/https://www.britannica.com/event/Middle-Ages|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some scholars have argued that a third epoch of the Quaternary, the [[Anthropocene]], has now begun.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Pearce |year= 2007 |title=With Speed and Violence |url= https://archive.org/details/withspeedviolenc00pear |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/withspeedviolenc00pear/page/21 21] |publisher= [[Beacon Press]] |isbn= 978-0-8070-8576-9}}</ref> This term has been used to denote the present time-interval in which many geologically significant conditions and processes have been profoundly altered by human activities. The 'Anthropocene' (a term coined by [[Paul J. Crutzen]] and [[Eugene F. Stoermer|Eugene Stoermer]] in 2000) was never a formally defined geological unit. The Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the [[International Commission on Stratigraphy]] (ICS) had a working group to determine whether it should be. In May 2019, members of the working group voted in favour of recognizing the Anthropocene as formal chrono-stratigraphic unit, with stratigraphic signals around the mid-twentieth century CE as its base. The exact criteria were still to be determined, after which the recommendation also had to be approved by the working group's parent bodies (ultimately the [[International Union of Geological Sciences]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/workinggroups/anthropocene/|title=Working Group on the "Anthropocene"|date= January 4, 2016|work=Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy|publisher=[[International Commission on Stratigraphy]] |access-date=June 18, 2017|archive-date=February 17, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160217014924/http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/workinggroups/anthropocene/|url-status=live}}
</ref> In March 2024, after 15 years of deliberation, the Anthropocene Epoch proposal of the working group was voted down by a wide margin by the SQS, owing largely to its shallow sedimentary record and extremely recent proposed start date.<ref name="Zhong-2024a">{{Cite news |last=Zhong |first=Raymond |date=2024-03-05 |title=Are We in the 'Anthropocene,' the Human Age? Nope, Scientists Say. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/climate/anthropocene-epoch-vote-rejected.html |access-date=2024-03-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Zhong-2024b">{{Cite news |last=Zhong |first=Raymond |date=2024-03-20 |title=Geologists Make It Official: We're Not in an 'Anthropocene' Epoch |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/climate/anthropocene-vote-upheld.html |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The ICS and the International Union of Geological Sciences later formally confirmed, by a near unanimous vote, the rejection of the working group's Anthropocene Epoch proposal for inclusion in the Geologic Time Scale.<ref name="International Chronostratigraphic Chart">{{cite web |title=International Chronostratigraphic Chart |url=https://stratigraphy.org/chart |access-date=7 April 2024 |publisher=[[International Commission on Stratigraphy]]}}</ref><ref name="quaternary.stratigraphy.org">{{cite web |title=What is the Anthropocene? – current definition and status |url=http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/working-groups/anthropocene/ |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=quaternary.stratigraphy.org |publisher=Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Working Group on the 'Anthropocene'}}</ref><ref name="The Anthropocene">The Anthropocene: IUGS-ICS Statement. March 20, 2024. https://www.iugs.org/_files/ugd/f1fc07_ebe2e2b94c35491c8efe570cd2c5a1bf.pdf</ref>

==Geology==
The Holocene is a geologic epoch that follows directly after the Pleistocene. Continental motions due to [[plate tectonics]] are less than a kilometre over a span of only 10,000 years. However, ice melt caused world [[Marine transgression|sea levels to rise]] about {{convert|35|m|abbr=on}} in the early part of the Holocene and another 30 m in the later part of the Holocene. In addition, many areas above about [[40th parallel north|40 degrees north]] latitude had been depressed by the weight of the Pleistocene glaciers and rose as much as {{convert|180|m|ft|abbr=on}} due to [[post-glacial rebound]] over the late Pleistocene and Holocene, and are still rising today.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/6226537/England-is-sinking-while-Scotland-rises-above-sea-levels-according-to-new-study.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/6226537/England-is-sinking-while-Scotland-rises-above-sea-levels-according-to-new-study.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=England is sinking while Scotland rises above sea levels, according to new study |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=October 7, 2009 |access-date=June 10, 2014 |last=Gray |first=Louise}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The sea-level rise and temporary [[land depression]] allowed temporary marine incursions into areas that are now far from the sea. For example, marine fossils from the Holocene epoch have been found in locations such as [[Vermont]] and [[Michigan]]. Other than higher-latitude temporary marine incursions associated with glacial depression, Holocene fossils are found primarily in lakebed, [[floodplain]], and [[cave]] deposits. Holocene marine deposits along low-latitude coastlines are rare because the rise in sea levels during the period exceeds any likely [[tectonic uplift]] of non-glacial origin.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

Post-glacial rebound in the [[Scandinavia]] region resulted in a shrinking [[Baltic Sea]]. The region continues to rise, still causing weak [[earthquake]]s across Northern Europe. An equivalent event in North America was the rebound of [[Hudson Bay]], as it shrank from its larger, immediate post-glacial [[Tyrrell Sea]] phase, to its present boundaries.<ref name=Lajeuness>{{cite journal |url=http://pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/rp/rppdf/e02-085.pdf |last1=Lajeuness |first1=Patrick |first2=Michael |last2=Allard |title=The Nastapoka drift belt, eastern Hudson Bay: implications of a stillstand of the Quebec-Labrador ice margin in the Tyrrell Sea at 8 ka BP |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=40 |year=2003 |issue=1 |pages=65–76 |doi=10.1139/e02-085 |bibcode=2003CaJES..40...65L |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040322102239/http://pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/rp/rppdf/e02-085.pdf |archive-date=2004-03-22 }}</ref>

==Climate==<!-- This section is linked from [[8.2ka event]] -->
[[File:Journal.pone.0076514.g004.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Vegetation and water bodies in northern and central Africa in the [[Eemian]] (bottom) and Holocene (top)]]
The climate throughout the Holocene has shown significant variability despite ice core records from Greenland suggesting a more stable climate following the preceding ice age. Marine chemical fluxes during the Holocene were lower than during the Younger Dryas, but were still considerable enough to imply notable changes in the climate.

The temporal and spatial extent of climate change during the Holocene is an area of considerable uncertainty, with [[radiative forcing]] recently proposed to be the origin of cycles identified in the North Atlantic region. Climate cyclicity through the Holocene ([[Bond events]]) has been observed in or near marine settings and is strongly controlled by glacial input to the North Atlantic.<ref name="Bond1997">{{cite journal |author=Bond, G. |display-authors=etal |year=1997 |title=A Pervasive Millennial-Scale Cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and Glacial Climates |url=http://rivernet.ncsu.edu/courselocker/PaleoClimate/Bond%20et%20al.,%201997%20Millenial%20Scale%20Holocene%20Change.pdf |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=278 |issue=5341 |pages=1257–1266 |bibcode=1997Sci...278.1257B |doi=10.1126/science.278.5341.1257 |s2cid=28963043 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227192411/http://rivernet.ncsu.edu/courselocker/PaleoClimate/Bond%20et%20al.%2C%201997%20Millenial%20Scale%20Holocene%20Change.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bond |first=G. |display-authors=etal |year=2001 |title=Persistent Solar Influence on North Atlantic Climate During the Holocene |journal=Science |volume=294 |issue=5549 |pages=2130–2136 |bibcode=2001Sci...294.2130B |doi=10.1126/science.1065680 |pmid=11739949 |s2cid=38179371 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Periodicities of ≈2500, ≈1500, and ≈1000 years are generally observed in the North Atlantic.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bianchi |first1=G. G. |last2=McCave |first2=I. N. |year=1999 |title=Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=397 |issue=6719 |pages=515–517 |bibcode=1999Natur.397..515B |doi=10.1038/17362 |s2cid=4304638}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Viau |first1=A. E. |last2=Gajewski |first2=K. |last3=Sawada |first3=M. C. |last4=Fines |first4=P. |year=2006 |title=Millennial-scale temperature variations in North America during the Holocene |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |volume=111 |issue=D9 |page=D09102 |bibcode=2006JGRD..111.9102V |doi=10.1029/2005JD006031 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Debret |first1=M. |last2=Sebag |first2=D. |last3=Crosta |first3=X. |last4=Massei |first4=N. |last5=Petit |first5=J.-R. |last6=Chapron |first6=E. |last7=Bout-Roumazeilles |first7=V. |year=2009 |title=Evidence from wavelet analysis for a mid-Holocene transition in global climate forcing |url=https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00442817/file/Debret-QuaternaryScienceReviews-2009.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=28 |issue=25 |pages=2675–2688 |bibcode=2009QSRv...28.2675D |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.06.005 |s2cid=117917422 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228082822/https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00442817/file/Debret-QuaternaryScienceReviews-2009.pdf |archive-date=2018-12-28 |access-date=2018-12-16}}</ref> At the same time spectral analyses of the continental record, which is remote from oceanic influence, reveal persistent periodicities of 1,000 and 500 years that may correspond to solar activity variations during the Holocene Epoch.<ref name="Krav">{{cite journal |last1=Kravchinsky |first1=V.A. |last2=Langereis |first2=C.G. |last3=Walker |first3=S.D. |last4=Dlusskiy |first4=K.G. |last5=White |first5=D. |year=2013 |title=Discovery of Holocene millennial climate cycles in the Asian continental interior: Has the sun been governing the continental climate?. |journal=Global and Planetary Change |volume=110 |pages=386–396 |bibcode=2013GPC...110..386K |doi=10.1016/j.gloplacha.2013.02.011}}</ref> A 1,500-year cycle corresponding to the North Atlantic oceanic circulation may have had widespread global distribution in the Late Holocene.<ref name="Krav" /> From 8,500 BP to 6,700 BP, North Atlantic climate oscillations were highly irregular and erratic because of perturbations from substantial ice discharge into the ocean from the collapsing Laurentide Ice Sheet.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Martin-Puertas |first1=Celia |last2=Hernandez |first2=Armand |last3=Pardo-Igúzquiza |first3=Eulogio |last4=Boyall |first4=Laura |last5=Brierley |first5=Chris |last6=Jiang |first6=Zhiyi |last7=Tjallingii |first7=Rik |last8=Blockley |first8=Simon P. E. |last9=Rodríguez-Tovar |first9=Francisco Javier |date=23 March 2023 |title=Dampened predictable decadal North Atlantic climate fluctuations due to ice melting |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01145-y |journal=[[Nature Geoscience]] |language=en |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=357–362 |doi=10.1038/s41561-023-01145-y |bibcode=2023NatGe..16..357M |s2cid=257735721 |issn=1752-0908 |access-date=22 September 2023|hdl=10261/349251 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The Greenland ice core records indicate that climate changes became more regional and had a larger effect on the mid-to-low latitudes and mid-to-high latitudes after ~5600 B.P.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=O'Brien |first1=S. R. |last2=Mayewski |first2=P. A. |last3=Meeker |first3=L. D. |last4=Meese |first4=D. A. |last5=Twickler |first5=M. S. |last6=Whitlow |first6=S. I. |date=1995-12-22 |title=Complexity of Holocene Climate as Reconstructed from a Greenland Ice Core |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.270.5244.1962 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |language=en |volume=270 |issue=5244 |pages=1962–1964 |doi=10.1126/science.270.5244.1962 |bibcode=1995Sci...270.1962O |s2cid=129199142 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref>

Human activity through land use changes already by the Mesolithic had major ecological impacts;<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nikulina |first1=Anastasia |last2=MacDonald |first2=Katharine |last3=Zapolska |first3=Anhelina |last4=Serge |first4=Maria Antonia |last5=Roche |first5=Didier M. |last6=Mazier |first6=Florence |last7=Davoli |first7=Marco |last8=Svenning |first8=Jens-Christian |last9=van Wees |first9=Dave |last10=Pearce |first10=Elena A. |last11=Fyfe |first11=Ralph |last12=Roebroeks |first12=Wil |last13=Scherjon |first13=Fulco |date=15 January 2024 |title=Hunter-gatherer impact on European interglacial vegetation: A modelling approach |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379123004870 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=324 |article-number=108439 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108439 |bibcode=2024QSRv..32408439N |access-date=11 October 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> it was an important influence on Holocene climatic changes, and is believed to be why the Holocene is an atypical interglacial that has not experienced significant cooling over its course.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ruddiman |first1=W. F. |last2=Fuller |first2=D. Q. |last3=Kutzbach |first3=J. E. |last4=Tzedakis |first4=P. C. |last5=Kaplan |first5=J. O. |last6=Ellis |first6=E. C. |last7=Vavrus |first7=S. J. |last8=Roberts |first8=C. N. |last9=Fyfe |first9=R. |last10=He |first10=F. |last11=Lemmen |first11=C. |last12=Woodbridge |first12=J. |date=15 February 2016 |title=Late Holocene climate: Natural or anthropogenic? |journal=[[Reviews of Geophysics]] |language=en |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=93–118 |doi=10.1002/2015RG000503 |bibcode=2016RvGeo..54...93R |s2cid=46451944 |issn=8755-1209 |doi-access=free |hdl=10026.1/8204 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> From the start of the [[Industrial Revolution]] onwards, large-scale anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions caused the Earth to warm.<ref name="Seip-2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Seip |first1=Knut Lehre |last2=Wang |first2=Hui |date=3 March 2023 |title=Maximum Northern Hemisphere warming rates before and after 1880 during the Common Era |journal=[[Theoretical and Applied Climatology]] |language=en |volume=152 |issue=1–2 |pages=307–319 |doi=10.1007/s00704-023-04398-0 |bibcode=2023ThApC.152..307S |s2cid=257338719 |issn=0177-798X |doi-access=free |hdl=11250/3071271 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Likewise, climatic changes have induced substantial changes in human civilisation over the course of the Holocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Degroot |first1=Dagomar |last2=Anchukaitis |first2=Kevin J |last3=Tierney |first3=Jessica E |last4=Riede |first4=Felix |last5=Manica |first5=Andrea |last6=Moesswilde |first6=Emma |last7=Gauthier |first7=Nicolas |date=1 October 2022 |title=The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |journal=[[Environmental Research Letters]] |volume=17 |issue=10 |page=103001 |doi=10.1088/1748-9326/ac8faa |bibcode=2022ERL....17j3001D |s2cid=252130680 |issn=1748-9326 |doi-access=free |hdl=10852/100641 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=David D. |last2=Brecke |first2=Peter |last3=Lee |first3=Harry F. |last4=He |first4=Yuan-Qing |last5=Zhang |first5=Jane |date=4 December 2007 |title=Global climate change, war, and population decline in recent human history |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |language=en |volume=104 |issue=49 |pages=19214–19219 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0703073104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2148270 |pmid=18048343 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10419214Z |doi-access=free }}</ref>

During the transition from the last glacial to the Holocene, the [[Huelmo–Mascardi Cold Reversal]] in the [[Southern Hemisphere]] began before the Younger Dryas, and the maximum warmth flowed south to north from 11,000 to 7,000 years ago. It appears that this was influenced by the residual glacial ice remaining in the [[Northern Hemisphere]] until the later date.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} The first major phase of Holocene climate was the [[Preboreal]].<ref name="Wanner-2008">{{Cite journal |last1=Wanner |first1=Heinz |last2=Beer |first2=Jürg |last3=Bütikofer |first3=Jonathan |last4=Crowley |first4=Thomas J. |last5=Cubasch |first5=Ulrich |last6=Flückiger |first6=Jacqueline |last7=Goosse |first7=Hugues |last8=Grosjean |first8=Martin |last9=Joos |first9=Fortunat |last10=Kaplan |first10=Jed O. |last11=Küttel |first11=Marcel |last12=Müller |first12=Simon A. |last13=Prentice |first13=I. Colin |last14=Solomina |first14=Olga |last15=Stocker |first15=Thomas F. |date=October 2008 |title=Mid- to Late Holocene climate change: an overview |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379108001479 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=27 |issue=19 |pages=1791–1828 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.06.013 |bibcode=2008QSRv...27.1791W |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref> At the start of the Preboreal occurred the [[Preboreal oscillation|Preboreal Oscillation]] (PBO).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hoek |first1=Wim Z. |last2=Bos |first2=Johanna A. A. |date=August 2007 |title=Early Holocene climate oscillations—causes and consequences |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379107001679 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |series=Early Holocene climate oscillations – causes and consequences |volume=26 |issue=15 |pages=1901–1906 |bibcode=2007QSRv...26.1901H |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.06.008 |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref> The [[Holocene climatic optimum|Holocene Climatic Optimum]] (HCO) was a period of warming throughout the globe but was not globally synchronous and uniform.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gao |first1=Fuyuan |last2=Jia |first2=Jia |last3=Xia |first3=Dunsheng |last4=Lu |first4=Caichen |last5=Lu |first5=Hao |last6=Wang |first6=Youjun |last7=Liu |first7=Hao |last8=Ma |first8=Yapeng |last9=Li |first9=Kaiming |date=15 March 2019 |title=Asynchronous Holocene Climate Optimum across mid-latitude Asia |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018218301688 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |language=en |volume=518 |pages=206–214 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.01.012 |bibcode=2019PPP...518..206G |s2cid=135199089 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> Following the HCO, the global climate entered a broad trend of very gradual cooling known as [[Neoglaciation]], which lasted from the end of the HCO to before the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name="Wanner-2008" /> From the 10th-14th century, the climate was similar to that of modern times during a period known as the [[Medieval Warm Period|Mediaeval Warm Period]] (MWP), also known as the Mediaeval Climatic Optimum (MCO). It was found that the warming that is taking place in current years is both more frequent and more spatially homogeneous than what was experienced during the MWP. A warming of +1 degree Celsius occurs 5–40 times more frequently in modern years than during the MWP. The major forcing during the MWP was due to greater solar activity, which led to heterogeneity compared to the greenhouse gas forcing of modern years that leads to more homogeneous warming. This was followed by the [[Little Ice Age]] (LIA) from the 13th or 14th century to the mid-19th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guiot |first=Joël |date=March 2012 |title=A robust spatial reconstruction of April to September temperature in Europe: Comparisons between the medieval period and the recent warming with a focus on extreme values |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921818111001196 |journal=[[Global and Planetary Change]] |volume=84–85 |pages=14–22 |bibcode=2012GPC....84...14G |doi=10.1016/j.gloplacha.2011.07.007}}</ref> The LIA was the coldest interval of time of the past two millennia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wanner |first1=H. |last2=Mercolli |first2=L. |last3=Grosjean |first3=M. |last4=Ritz |first4=S. P. |date=17 October 2014 |title=Holocene climate variability and change; a data-based review |url=https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/jgs2013-101 |journal=[[Journal of the Geological Society]] |language=en |volume=172 |issue=2 |pages=254–263 |doi=10.1144/jgs2013-101 |s2cid=73548216 |issn=0016-7649 |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref> Following the Industrial Revolution, warm decadal intervals became more common relative to before as a consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, resulting in progressive global warming.<ref name="Seip-2023" /> In the late 20th century, anthropogenic forcing superseded variations in solar activity as the dominant driver of climate change,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Duan |first1=Jianping |last2=Zhang |first2=Qi-Bin |date=27 October 2014 |title=A 449 year warm season temperature reconstruction in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and its relation to solar activity: Temperature reconstruction in the Tibet |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres]] |language=en |volume=119 |issue=20 |pages=11,578–11,592 |doi=10.1002/2014JD022422 |s2cid=128906290 |doi-access=free }}</ref> though solar activity has continued to play a role.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Benestad |first1=R. E. |last2=Schmidt |first2=G. A. |date=27 July 2009 |title=Solar trends and global warming |journal=[[Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres]] |language=en |volume=114 |issue=D14 |article-number=2008JD011639 |doi=10.1029/2008JD011639 |issn=0148-0227 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2009JGRD..11414101B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Perry |first1=Charles A. |last2=Hsu |first2=Kenneth J. |date=7 November 2000 |title=Geophysical, archaeological, and historical evidence support a solar-output model for climate change |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |language=en |volume=97 |issue=23 |pages=12433–12438 |doi=10.1073/pnas.230423297 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=18780 |pmid=11050181 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2000PNAS...9712433P }}</ref>

=== Europe ===
[[File:Doggerland3er en.png|thumb|European coastline: modern (left), during the early Holocene (center) and during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] (right)]]
[[Drangajökull]], Iceland's northernmost glacier, melted shortly after 9,200 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harning |first1=David J. |last2=Geirsdóttir |first2=Áslaug |last3=Miller |first3=Gifford H. |last4=Zalzal |first4=Kate |date=1 December 2016 |title=Early Holocene deglaciation of Drangajökull, Vestfirðir, Iceland |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379116303924 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=153 |pages=192–198 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.09.030 |bibcode=2016QSRv..153..192H |access-date=9 June 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> In [[Northern Germany]], the Middle Holocene saw a drastic increase in the amount of raised bogs, most likely related to sea level rise. Although human activity affected geomorphology and landscape evolution in Northern Germany throughout the Holocene, it only became a dominant influence in the last four centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gerdes |first1=G |last2=Petzelberger |first2=B. E. M |last3=Scholz-Böttcher |first3=B. M |last4=Streif |first4=H |date=1 January 2003 |title=The record of climatic change in the geological archives of shallow marine, coastal, and adjacent lowland areas of Northern Germany |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223226453 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |series=Environmental response to climate and human impact in central Europe during the last 15000 years – a German contribution to PAGES-PEPIII |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=101–124 |bibcode=2003QSRv...22..101G |doi=10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00183-X |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=27 October 2023}}</ref> In the [[French Alps]], geochemistry and lithium isotope signatures in lake sediments have suggested gradual soil formation from the [[Last Glacial Period]] to the [[Holocene climatic optimum]], and this soil development was altered by the settlement of human societies. Early anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and agriculture reinforced soil erosion, which peaked in the [[Middle Ages]] at an unprecedented level, marking human forcing as the most powerful factor affecting surface processes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Xu (Yvon) |last2=Bajard |first2=Manon |last3=Bouchez |first3=Julien |last4=Sabatier |first4=Pierre |last5=Poulenard |first5=Jérôme |last6=Arnaud |first6=Fabien |last7=Crouzet |first7=Christian |last8=Kuessner |first8=Marie |last9=Dellinger |first9=Mathieu |last10=Gaillardet |first10=Jérôme |date=2023-12-15 |title=Evolution of the alpine Critical Zone since the Last Glacial Period using Li isotopes from lake sediments |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X23004764 |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=624 |article-number=118463 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118463 |bibcode=2023E&PSL.62418463Z |issn=0012-821X|hdl=10852/110062 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The sedimentary record from [[Aitoliko Lagoon]] indicates that wet winters locally predominated from 210 to 160 BP, followed by dry winter dominance from 160 to 20 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Koutsodendris |first1=Andreas |last2=Brauer |first2=Achim |last3=Reed |first3=Jane M. |last4=Plessen |first4=Birgit |last5=Friedrich |first5=Oliver |last6=Hennrich |first6=Barbara |last7=Zacharias |first7=Ierotheos |last8=Pross |first8=Jörg |date=1 March 2017 |title=Climate variability in SE Europe since 1450 AD based on a varved sediment record from Etoliko Lagoon (Western Greece) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379117300471 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=159 |pages=63–76 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.01.010 |bibcode=2017QSRv..159...63K |access-date=19 July 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>

=== Africa ===
North Africa, dominated by the [[Sahara Desert]] in the present, was instead a savanna dotted with large lakes during the Early and Middle Holocene,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon J. |last2=Bristow |first2=Charlie S. |last3=Drake |first3=Nick A. |date=14 July 2015 |title=West African monsoon dynamics inferred from abrupt fluctuations of Lake Mega-Chad |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |language=en |volume=112 |issue=28 |pages=8543–8548 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1417655112 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=4507243 |pmid=26124133 |bibcode=2015PNAS..112.8543A |doi-access=free }}</ref> regionally known as the [[African humid period|African Humid Period]] (AHP).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Depreux |first1=Bruno |last2=Lefèvre |first2=David |last3=Berger |first3=Jean-François |last4=Segaoui |first4=Fatima |last5=Boudad |first5=Larbi |last6=El Harradji |first6=Abderrahmane |last7=Degeai |first7=Jean-Philippe |last8=Limondin-Lozouet |first8=Nicole |date=1 March 2021 |title=Alluvial records of the African Humid Period from the NW African highlands (Moulouya basin, NE Morocco) |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=255 |article-number=106807 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106807 |bibcode=2021QSRv..25506807D |s2cid=233792780 |issn=0277-3791 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The northward migration of the [[Intertropical Convergence Zone]] (ITCZ) produced increased monsoon rainfall over North Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sha |first1=Lijuan |last2=Ait Brahim |first2=Yassine |last3=Wassenburg |first3=Jasper A. |last4=Yin |first4=Jianjun |last5=Peros |first5=Matthew |last6=Cruz |first6=Francisco W. |last7=Cai |first7=Yanjun |last8=Li |first8=Hanying |last9=Du |first9=Wenjing |last10=Zhang |first10=Haiwei |last11=Edwards |first11=R. Lawrence |last12=Cheng |first12=Hai |date=16 December 2019 |title=How Far North Did the African Monsoon Fringe Expand During the African Humid Period? Insights From Southwest Moroccan Speleothems |journal=[[Geophysical Research Letters]] |language=en |volume=46 |issue=23 |pages=14093–14102 |doi=10.1029/2019GL084879 |bibcode=2019GeoRL..4614093S |s2cid=213015081 |issn=0094-8276 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The lush vegetation of the Sahara brought an increase in [[pastoralism]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Katie |last2=Timpson |first2=Adrian |date=October 2014 |title=The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=101 |pages=28–35 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003 |bibcode=2014QSRv..101...28M |s2cid=54923700 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The AHP ended around 5,500 BP, after which the Sahara began to dry and become the desert it is today.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Adkins |first1=Jess |last2=deMenocal |first2=Peter |last3=Eshel |first3=Gidon |date=20 October 2006 |title=The "African humid period" and the record of marine upwelling from excess 230 Th in Ocean Drilling Program Hole 658C: Th NORMALIZED FLUXES OFF NORTH AFRICA |journal=[[Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology]] |language=en |volume=21 |issue=4 |doi=10.1029/2005PA001200|doi-access=free |bibcode=2006PalOc..21.4203A }}</ref>

A stronger East African Monsoon during the Middle Holocene increased precipitation in East Africa and raised lake levels.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Forman |first1=Steven L. |last2=Wright |first2=David K. |last3=Bloszies |first3=Christopher |date=1 August 2014 |title=Variations in water level for Lake Turkana in the past 8500 years near Mt. Porr, Kenya and the transition from the African Humid Period to Holocene aridity |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379114001747 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=97 |pages=84–101 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.05.005 |bibcode=2014QSRv...97...84F |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=22 September 2023}}</ref> Around 800 AD, or 1,150 BP, a marine transgression occurred in southeastern Africa; in the Lake Lungué basin, this sea level highstand occurred from 740 to 910 AD, or from 1,210 to 1,040 BP, as evidenced by the lake's connection to the Indian Ocean at this time. This transgression was followed by a period of transition that lasted until 590 BP, when the region experienced significant aridification and began to be extensively used by humans for livestock herding.<ref name="LateHoloceneLakeLungué">{{Cite journal |last1=Sitoe |first1=Sandra Raúl |last2=Risberg |first2=Jan |last3=Norström |first3=Elin |last4=Westerberg |first4=Lars-Ove |date=1 November 2017 |title=Late Holocene sea-level changes and paleoclimate recorded in Lake Lungué, southern Mozambique |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018217302092 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=485 |pages=305–315 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.022 |bibcode=2017PPP...485..305S |issn=0031-0182 |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref>

In the [[Kalahari Desert]], Holocene climate was overall very stable and environmental change was of low amplitude. Relatively cool conditions have prevailed since 4,000 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lancaster |first=N. |date=1 May 1989 |title=Late Quaternary paleoenvironments in the southwestern Kalahari |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=367–376 |doi=10.1016/0031-0182(89)90114-4 |bibcode=1989PPP....70..367L |issn=0031-0182 }}</ref>

=== Middle East ===
[[File:MUFT - Catal Höyük Modell.jpg|thumb|A model of [[Çatalhöyük]], a commonly cited example of a [[proto-city]], 7300 BC]]
In the [[Middle East]], the Holocene brought a warmer and wetter climate, in contrast to the preceding cold, dry [[Younger Dryas]]. The Early Holocene saw the advent and spread of agriculture in the [[Fertile Crescent]]—[[sheep]], [[goat]], [[cattle]], and later [[pig]] were domesticated, as well as cereals, like [[wheat]] and [[barley]], and [[legume]]s—which would later [[Spread of agriculture|disperse]] into much of the world. This '[[Neolithic Revolution]]', likely influenced by Holocene climatic changes, included an increase in [[sedentism]] and population, eventually resulting in the world's first large-scale state societies in [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hole |first=F. |date=2007-05-11 |title=Agricultural sustainability in the semi-arid Near East |url=https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/3/193/2007/ |journal=Climate of the Past |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=193–203 |doi=10.5194/cp-3-193-2007 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2007CliPa...3..193H |issn=1814-9332}}</ref>

During the Middle Holocene, the [[Intertropical Convergence Zone]], which governs the incursion of monsoon precipitation through the [[Arabian Peninsula]], shifted southwards, resulting in increased aridity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Enzel |first1=Yehouda |last2=Kushnir |first2=Yochanan |last3=Quade |first3=Jay |date=2015 |title=The middle Holocene climatic records from Arabia: Reassessing lacustrine environments, shift of ITCZ in Arabian Sea, and impacts of the southwest Indian and African monsoons |volume=129 |pages=69–91 |url=https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8WD3ZTQ |doi=10.7916/D8WD3ZTQ |issn=0921-8181}}</ref> In the Middle to Late Holocene, the coastline of the [[Levant]] and [[Persian Gulf]] receded, prompting a shift in human settlement patterns following this marine regression.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Giaime |first1=Matthieu |last2=Artzy |first2=Michal |last3=Jol |first3=Harry M. |last4=Salmon |first4=Yossi |last5=López |first5=Gloria I. |last6=Abu Hamid |first6=Amani |date=1 May 2022 |title=Refining Late-Holocene environmental changes of the Akko coastal plain and its impacts on the settlement and anchorage patterns of Tel Akko (Israel) |journal=[[Marine Geology (journal)|Marine Geology]] |volume=447 |article-number=106778 |doi=10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106778 |s2cid=247636727 |issn=0025-3227|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022MGeol.44706778G }}</ref>

=== Siberia ===
Fire activity decreased sharply in [[Western Siberia]] during the Early Holocene after a relative high during the Late Glacial Period. The Middle Holocene saw an increase in fire activity concomitant with the spread of [[pine]] forests, but fire activity once again decreased during the Late Holocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Blyakharchuk |first1=Tatiana A. |last2=van Hardenbroek |first2=Maarten |last3=Pupysheva |first3=Maria A. |last4=Kirpotin |first4=Sergey N. |last5=Blyakharchuk |first5=Pavel A. |date=5 November 2024 |title=Late Glacial and Holocene history of climate, vegetation landscapes and fires in South Taiga of Western Siberia based on radiocarbon dating and multi-proxy palaeoecological research of sediments from Shchuchye Lake |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/abs/late-glacial-and-holocene-history-of-climate-vegetation-landscapes-and-fires-in-south-taiga-of-western-siberia-based-on-radiocarbon-dating-and-multiproxy-palaeoecological-research-of-sediments-from-shchuchye-lake/D6161CD93926E170610BA6DD3CAC37E2 |journal=[[Radiocarbon (journal)|Radiocarbon]] |language=en |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2024.103 |issn=0033-8222 |access-date=11 May 2026 |via=Cambridge Core}}</ref>

=== Central Asia ===
Central Asia experienced glacial-like temperatures until about 8,000 BP, when the Laurentide Ice Sheet collapsed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhao |first1=Jiaju |last2=An |first2=Chen-Bang |last3=Huang |first3=Yongsong |last4=Morrill |first4=Carrie |last5=Chen |first5=Fa-Hu |date=15 December 2017 |title=Contrasting early Holocene temperature variations between monsoonal East Asia and westerly dominated Central Asia |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379117300458 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=178 |pages=14–23 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.10.036 |bibcode=2017QSRv..178...14Z |access-date=19 July 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> In [[Xinjiang]], long-term Holocene warming increased meltwater supply during summers, creating large lakes and oases at low altitudes and inducing enhanced moisture recycling.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rao |first1=Zhiguo |last2=Wu |first2=Dandan |last3=Shi |first3=Fuxi |last4=Guo |first4=Haichun |last5=Cao |first5=Jiantao |last6=Chen |first6=Fahu |date=1 April 2019 |title=Reconciling the 'westerlies' and 'monsoon' models: A new hypothesis for the Holocene moisture evolution of the Xinjiang region, NW China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825218306780 |journal=[[Earth-Science Reviews]] |volume=191 |pages=263–272 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.03.002 |bibcode=2019ESRv..191..263R |s2cid=134712945 |issn=0012-8252 |access-date=15 September 2023}}</ref> In the [[Tian Shan|Tien Shan]], sedimentological evidence from Swan Lake suggests the period between 8,500 and 6,900 BP was relatively warm, with steppe meadow vegetation being predominant. An increase in [[Cyperaceae]] from 6,900 to 2,600 BP indicates cooling and humidification of the Tian Shan climate that was interrupted by a warm period between 5,500 and 4,500 BP. After 2,600 BP, an alpine steppe climate prevailed across the region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Huang |first1=Xiao-zhong |last2=Chen |first2=Chun-zhu |last3=Jia |first3=Wan-na |last4=An |first4=Cheng-bang |last5=Zhou |first5=Ai-feng |last6=Zhang |first6=Jia-wu |last7=Jin |first7=Ming |last8=Xia |first8=Dun-sheng |last9=Chen |first9=Fa-hu |last10=Grimm |first10=Eric C. |date=15 August 2015 |title=Vegetation and climate history reconstructed from an alpine lake in central Tienshan Mountains since 8.5ka BP |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018215002370 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=432 |pages=36–48 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.04.027 |bibcode=2015PPP...432...36H |issn=0031-0182 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> Sand dune evolution in the Bayanbulak Basin shows that the region was very dry from the Holocene's beginning until around 6,500 BP, when a wet interval began.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Hao |last2=Shen |first2=Ji |last3=Chen |first3=Jianhui |last4=Tsukamoto |first4=Sumiko |last5=Yang |first5=Linhai |last6=Cheng |first6=Hongyi |last7=Frechen |first7=Manfred |date=15 October 2017 |title=Holocene moisture variations over the arid central Asia revealed by a comprehensive sand-dune record from the central Tian Shan, NW China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379117302883 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=174 |pages=13–32 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.024 |bibcode=2017QSRv..174...13L |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> In the [[Tibetan Plateau]], the moisture optimum spanned from around 7,500 to 5,500 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wünnemann |first1=Bernd |last2=Yan |first2=Dada |last3=Andersen |first3=Nils |last4=Riedel |first4=Frank |last5=Zhang |first5=Yongzhan |last6=Sun |first6=Qianli |last7=Hoelzmann |first7=Philipp |date=15 November 2018 |title=A 14 ka high-resolution δ18O lake record reveals a paradigm shift for the process-based reconstruction of hydroclimate on the northern Tibetan Plateau |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118303548 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=200 |pages=65–84 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.040 |bibcode=2018QSRv..200...65W |s2cid=134520306 |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> The [[Tarim Basin]] records the onset of significant aridification around 3,000-2,000 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cai |first1=Yanjun |last2=Chiang |first2=John C.H. |last3=Breitenbach |first3=Sebastian F.M. |last4=Tan |first4=Liangcheng |last5=Cheng |first5=Hai |last6=Edwards |first6=R. Lawrence |last7=An |first7=Zhisheng |date=15 February 2017 |title=Holocene moisture changes in western China, Central Asia, inferred from stalagmites |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379116307089 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |language=en |volume=158 |pages=15–28 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.12.014 |bibcode=2017QSRv..158...15C |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>

=== South Asia ===
After 11,800 BP, and especially between 10,800 and 9,200 BP, [[Ladakh]] experienced tremendous moisture increase most likely related to the strengthening of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). From 9,200 to 6,900 BP, relative aridity persisted in Ladakh. A second major humid phase occurred in Ladakh from 6,900 to 4,800 BP, after which the region was again arid.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Demske |first1=Dieter |last2=Tarasov |first2=Pavel E. |last3=Wünnemann |first3=Bernd |last4=Riedel |first4=Frank |date=15 August 2009 |title=Late glacial and Holocene vegetation, Indian monsoon and westerly circulation in the Trans-Himalaya recorded in the lacustrine pollen sequence from Tso Kar, Ladakh, NW India |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018209001928 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |language=en |volume=279 |issue=3–4 |pages=172–185 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.05.008 |bibcode=2009PPP...279..172D |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref>

From 900 to 1,200 AD, during the MWP, the ISM was again strong as evidenced by low δ<sup>18</sup>O values from the Ganga Plain.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Dhruv Sen |last2=Gupta |first2=Anil K. |last3=Sangode |first3=S. J. |last4=Clemens |first4=Steven C. |last5=Prakasam |first5=M. |last6=Srivastava |first6=Priyeshu |last7=Prajapati |first7=Shailendra K. |date=12 June 2015 |title=Multiproxy record of monsoon variability from the Ganga Plain during 400–1200 A.D. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618215001470 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |series=Updated Quaternary Climatic Research in parts of the Third Pole Selected papers from the HOPE-2013 conference, Nainital, India |volume=371 |pages=157–163 |bibcode=2015QuInt.371..157S |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.02.040 |issn=1040-6182 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref>

The sediments of [[Lonar Lake]] in [[Maharashtra]] record dry conditions around 11,400 BP that transitioned into a much wetter climate from 11,400 to 11,100 BP due to intensification of the ISM. Over the Early Holocene, the region was very wet, but during the Middle Holocene from 6,200 to 3,900 BP, aridification occurred, with the subsequent Late Holocene being relatively arid as a whole.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Menzel |first1=Philip |last2=Gaye |first2=Birgit |last3=Mishra |first3=Praveen K. |last4=Anoop |first4=Ambili |last5=Basavaiah |first5=Nathani |last6=Marwan |first6=Norbert |last7=Plessen |first7=Birgit |last8=Prasad |first8=Sushma |last9=Riedel |first9=Nils |last10=Stebich |first10=Martina |last11=Wiesner |first11=Martin G. |date=15 September 2014 |title=Linking Holocene drying trends from Lonar Lake in monsoonal central India to North Atlantic cooling events |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018214003009 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=410 |pages=164–178 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.05.044 |bibcode=2014PPP...410..164M |issn=0031-0182 |access-date=15 September 2023}}</ref>

Coastal southwestern India experienced a stronger ISM from 9,690 to 7,560 BP, during the HCO. From 3,510 to 2,550 BP, during the Late Holocene, the ISM became weaker, although this weakening was interrupted by an interval of unusually high ISM strength from 3,400 to 3,200 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shaji |first1=Jithu |last2=Banerji |first2=Upasana S. |last3=Maya |first3=K. |last4=Joshi |first4=Kumar Batuk |last5=Dabhi |first5=Ankur J. |last6=Bharti |first6=Nisha |last7=Bhushan |first7=Ravi |last8=Padmalal |first8=D. |date=30 December 2022 |title=Holocene monsoon and sea-level variability from coastal lowlands of Kerala, SW India |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S104061822200074X |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=642 |pages=48–62 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2022.03.005 |bibcode=2022QuInt.642...48S |s2cid=247553867 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref>

=== East Asia ===
Southwestern China experienced long-term warming during the Early Holocene up until ~7,000 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sun |first1=Weiwei |last2=Zhang |first2=Enlou |last3=Jiang |first3=Qingfeng |last4=Ning |first4=Dongliang |last5=Luo |first5=Wenlei |date=October 2023 |title=Temperature changes during the last deglaciation and early Holocene in southwest China |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0921818123002114 |journal=[[Global and Planetary Change]] |language=en |volume=229 |article-number=104238 |doi=10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104238 |bibcode=2023GPC...22904238S |access-date=9 June 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> Northern China experienced an abrupt aridification event approximately 4,000 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Guo |first1=Zhengtang |last2=Petit-Maire |first2=Nicole |last3=Kröpelin |first3=Stefan |date=November 2000 |title=Holocene non-orbital climatic events in present-day arid areas of northern Africa and China |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0921818100000370 |journal=[[Global and Planetary Change]] |volume=26 |issue=1–3 |pages=97–103 |doi=10.1016/S0921-8181(00)00037-0 |bibcode=2000GPC....26...97G |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> From around 3,500 to 3,000 BP, northeastern China underwent a prolonged cooling, manifesting itself with the disruption of Bronze Age civilisations in the region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zheng |first1=Yanhong |last2=Yu |first2=Shi-Yong |last3=Fan |first3=Tongyu |last4=Oppenheimer |first4=Clive |last5=Yu |first5=Xuefeng |last6=Liu |first6=Zhao |last7=Xian |first7=Feng |last8=Liu |first8=Zhen |last9=Li |first9=Jianyong |last10=Li |first10=Jiahao |date=15 July 2021 |title=Prolonged cooling interrupted the Bronze Age cultures in northeastern China 3500 years ago |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018221002467 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=574 |article-number=110461 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110461 |bibcode=2021PPP...57410461Z |s2cid=236229299 |issn=0031-0182 |access-date=15 October 2023}}</ref> Eastern and southern China, the monsoonal regions of China, were wetter than present in the Early and Middle Holocene.<ref name="VegetationResponseMonsoonChina">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhao |first1=Yan |last2=Yu |first2=Zicheng |last3=Chen |first3=Fahu |last4=Zhang |first4=Jiawu |last5=Yang |first5=Bao |date=1 December 2009 |title=Vegetation response to Holocene climate change in monsoon-influenced region of China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825209001627 |journal=[[Earth-Science Reviews]] |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=242–256 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.10.007 |bibcode=2009ESRv...97..242Z |issn=0012-8252 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> Lake Huguangyan's TOC, δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>wax</sub>, δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>org</sub>, δ<sup>15</sup>N values suggest the period of peak moisture lasted from 9,200 to 1,800 BP and was attributable to a strong East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jia |first1=Guodong |last2=Bai |first2=Yang |last3=Yang |first3=Xiaoqiang |last4=Xie |first4=Luhua |last5=Wei |first5=Gangjian |last6=Ouyang |first6=Tingping |last7=Chu |first7=Guoqiang |last8=Liu |first8=Zhonghui |last9=Peng |first9=Ping'an |date=1 March 2015 |title=Biogeochemical evidence of Holocene East Asian summer and winter monsoon variability from a tropical maar lake in southern China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379115000098 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=111 |pages=51–61 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.01.002 |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref> Late Holocene cooling events in the region were dominantly influenced by solar forcing, with many individual cold snaps linked to solar minima such as the Oort, [[Wolf minimum|Wolf]], [[Spörer Minimum|Spörer]], and [[Maunder Minimum|Maunder Minima]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Park |first=Jungjae |date=1 March 2017 |title=Solar and tropical ocean forcing of late-Holocene climate change in coastal East Asia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018217300044 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=469 |pages=74–83 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.01.005 |bibcode=2017PPP...469...74P |issn=0031-0182 |access-date=15 September 2023}}</ref> A notable cooling event in southeastern China occurred 3,200 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Mengyuan |last2=Zheng |first2=Zhuo |last3=Man |first3=Meiling |last4=Hu |first4=Jianfang |last5=Gao |first5=Quanzhou |date=5 July 2017 |title=Branched GDGT-based paleotemperature reconstruction of the last 30,000 years in humid monsoon region of Southeast China |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0009254117303017 |journal=[[Chemical Geology]] |language=en |volume=463 |pages=94–102 |doi=10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.05.014 |bibcode=2017ChGeo.463...94W |access-date=19 July 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> Strengthening of the winter monsoon occurred around 5,500, 4,000, and 2,500 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Zhen |last2=Pospelova |first2=Vera |last3=Liu |first3=Lejun |last4=Zhou |first4=Rui |last5=Song |first5=Bing |date=1 October 2017 |title=High-resolution palynological record of Holocene climatic and oceanographic changes in the northern South China Sea |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018217302626 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |language=en |volume=483 |pages=94–124 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.03.009 |bibcode=2017PPP...483...94L |access-date=19 July 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> Monsoonal regions of China became more arid in the Late Holocene.<ref name="VegetationResponseMonsoonChina" />

In the Sea of Japan, the Middle Holocene was notable for its warmth, with rhythmic temperature fluctuations every 400–500 and 1,000 years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koizumi |first=Itaru |date=December 2008 |title=Diatom-derived SSTs (Td′ ratio) indicate warm seas off Japan during the middle Holocene (8.2–3.3 kyr BP) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037783980800100X |journal=Marine Micropaleontology |language=en |volume=69 |issue=3–4 |pages=263–281 |doi=10.1016/j.marmicro.2008.08.004 |bibcode=2008MarMP..69..263K |access-date=11 October 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>

=== Southeast Asia ===
Before 7,500 BP, the [[Gulf of Thailand]] was exposed above sea level and was very arid. A marine transgression occurred from 7,500 to 6,200 BP amidst global warming.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Hui |last2=Liu |first2=Shengfa |last3=Wu |first3=Kaikai |last4=Cao |first4=Peng |last5=Pan |first5=Hui-Juan |last6=Wang |first6=Hongmin |last7=Cui |first7=Jingjing |last8=Li |first8=Jingrui |last9=Khokiattiwong |first9=Somkiat |last10=Kornkanitnan |first10=Narumol |last11=Shi |first11=Xuefa |date=20 August 2022 |title=Evolution of sedimentary environment in the Gulf of Thailand since the last deglaciation |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104061822100077X |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |series=Understanding the Late Quaternary Paleomonsoon and Paleoenvironmental Shifts of Asia |volume=629 |pages=36–43 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2021.02.018 |bibcode=2022QuInt.629...36Z |s2cid=233897984 |issn=1040-6182 |access-date=15 September 2023}}</ref>

=== North America ===
During the Middle Holocene, western North America was drier than present, with wetter winters and drier summers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Steinman |first1=Byron A. |last2=Pompeani |first2=David P. |last3=Abbott |first3=Mark B. |last4=Ortiz |first4=Joseph D. |last5=Stansell |first5=Nathan D. |last6=Finkenbinder |first6=Matthew S. |last7=Mihindukulasooriya |first7=Lorita N. |last8=Hillman |first8=Aubrey L. |date=15 June 2016 |title=Oxygen isotope records of Holocene climate variability in the Pacific Northwest |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=142 |pages=40–60 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.04.012 |bibcode=2016QSRv..142...40S |issn=0277-3791 |doi-access=free }}</ref> After the end of the thermal maximum of the HCO around 4,500 BP, the [[East Greenland Current]] underwent strengthening.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Perner |first1=Kerstin |last2=Moros |first2=Matthias |last3=Lloyd |first3=Jeremy M. |last4=Jansen |first4=Eystein |last5=Stein |first5=Rüdiger |date=1 December 2015 |title=Mid to late Holocene strengthening of the East Greenland Current linked to warm subsurface Atlantic water |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379115301311 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=129 |pages=296–307 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.007 |bibcode=2015QSRv..129..296P |s2cid=129732336 |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=11 September 2023}}</ref> A massive megadrought occurred from 2,800 to 1,850 BP in the [[Great Basin]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mensing |first1=Scott A. |last2=Sharpe |first2=Saxon E. |last3=Tunno |first3=Irene |last4=Sada |first4=Don W. |last5=Thomas |first5=Jim M. |last6=Starratt |first6=Scott |last7=Smith |first7=Jeremy |date=15 October 2013 |title=The Late Holocene Dry Period: multiproxy evidence for an extended drought between 2800 and 1850 cal yr BP across the central Great Basin, USA |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379113003156 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=78 |pages=266–282 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.08.010 |bibcode=2013QSRv...78..266M |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref>

Eastern North America underwent abrupt warming and humidification around 10,500 BP and then declined from 9,300 to 9,100 BP. The region has undergone a long term wettening since 5,500 BP occasionally interrupted by intervals of high aridity. A major cool event lasting from 5,500 to 4,700 BP was coeval with a major humidification before being terminated by a major drought and warming at the end of that interval.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shuman |first1=Bryan N. |last2=Marsicek |first2=Jeremiah |date=1 June 2016 |title=The structure of Holocene climate change in mid-latitude North America |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=141 |pages=38–51 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.009 |bibcode=2016QSRv..141...38S |issn=0277-3791 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== South America ===
During the Early Holocene, relative sea level rose in the [[Bahia]] region, causing a landward expansion of mangroves. During the Late Holocene, the mangroves declined as sea level dropped and freshwater supply increased.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fontes |first1=Neuza Araújo |last2=Moraes |first2=Caio A. |last3=Cohen |first3=Marcelo C L |last4=Alves |first4=Igor Charles C. |last5=França |first5=Marlon Carlos |last6=Pessenda |first6=Luiz C R |last7=Francisquini |first7=Mariah Izar |last8=Bendassolli |first8=José Albertino |last9=Macario |first9=Kita |last10=Mayle |first10=Francis |date=February 2017 |title=The Impacts of the Middle Holocene High Sea-Level Stand and Climatic Changes on Mangroves of the Jucuruçu River, Southern Bahia – Northeastern Brazil |journal=[[Radiocarbon (journal)|Radiocarbon]] |language=en |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=215–230 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2017.6 |bibcode=2017Radcb..59..215F |s2cid=133047191 |issn=0033-8222 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In the [[Santa Catarina (state)|Santa Catarina]] region, the maximum sea level highstand was around 2.1 metres above present and occurred about 5,800 to 5,000 BP.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Angulo |first1=Rodolfo J. |last2=Lessa |first2=Guilherme C. |last3=Souza |first3=Maria Cristina de |date=1 March 2006 |title=A critical review of mid- to late-Holocene sea-level fluctuations on the eastern Brazilian coastline |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379105000843 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=486–506 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.03.008 |bibcode=2006QSRv...25..486A |issn=0277-3791 |access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref> Sea levels at [[Rocas Atoll]] were likewise higher than present for much of the Late Holocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Angulo |first1=Rodolfo José |last2=de Souza |first2=Maria Cristina |last3=da Camara Rosa |first3=Maria Luiza Correa |last4=Caron |first4=Felipe |last5=Barboza |first5=Eduardo G. |last6=Costa |first6=Mirella Borba Santos Ferreira |last7=Macedo |first7=Eduardo |last8=Vital |first8=Helenice |last9=Gomes |first9=Moab Praxedes |last10=Garcia |first10=Khalil Bow Ltaif |date=1 May 2022 |title=Paleo-sea levels, Late-Holocene evolution, and a new interpretation of the boulders at the Rocas Atoll, southwestern Equatorial Atlantic |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322722000512 |journal=[[Marine Geology (journal)|Marine Geology]] |volume=447 |article-number=106780 |doi=10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106780 |bibcode=2022MGeol.44706780A |s2cid=247822701 |issn=0025-3227 |access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref>

=== Australia ===
The Northwest Australian Summer Monsoon was in a strong phase from 8,500 to 6,400 BP, from 5,000 to 4,000 BP (possibly until 3,000 BP), and from 1,300 to 900 BP, with weak phases in between and the current weak phase beginning around 900 BP after the end of the last strong phase.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Eroglu |first1=Deniz |last2=McRobie |first2=Fiona H. |last3=Ozken |first3=Ibrahim |last4=Stemler |first4=Thomas |last5=Wyrwoll |first5=Karl-Heinz |last6=Breitenbach |first6=Sebastian F. M. |last7=Marwan |first7=Norbert |last8=Kurths |first8=Jürgen |date=26 September 2016 |title=See–saw relationship of the Holocene East Asian–Australian summer monsoon |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |article-number=12929 |doi=10.1038/ncomms12929 |issn=2041-1723 |doi-access=free |pmid=27666662 |pmc=5052686 |bibcode=2016NatCo...712929E }}</ref>

=== New Zealand ===
Ice core measurements imply that the [[sea surface temperature]] (SST) gradient east of New Zealand, across the subtropical front (STF), was around 2 degrees Celsius during the HCO. This temperature gradient is significantly less than modern times, which is around 6 degrees Celsius. A study utilizing five SST proxies from 37°S to 60°S latitude confirmed that the strong temperature gradient was confined to the area immediately south of the STF, and is correlated with reduced westerly winds near New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prebble |first1=J. G. |last2=Bostock |first2=H. C. |last3=Cortese |first3=G. |last4=Lorrey |first4=A. M. |last5=Hayward |first5=B. W. |last6=Calvo |first6=E. |last7=Northcote |first7=L. C. |last8=Scott |first8=G. H. |last9=Neil |first9=H. L. |date=August 2017 |title=Evidence for a Holocene Climatic Optimum in the southwest Pacific: A multiproxy study: Holocene Optimum in SW Pacific |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2016PA003065 |journal=Paleoceanography |language=en |volume=32 |issue=8 |pages=763–779 |doi=10.1002/2016PA003065 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10261/155815}}</ref> Since 7,100 BP, New Zealand experienced 53 cyclones similar in magnitude to [[Cyclone Bola]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Orpin |first1=A. R. |last2=Carter |first2=L. |last3=Page |first3=M. J. |last4=Cochran |first4=U. A. |last5=Trustrum |first5=N. A. |last6=Gomez |first6=B. |last7=Palmer |first7=A. S. |last8=Mildenhall |first8=D. C. |last9=Rogers |first9=K. M. |last10=Brackley |first10=H. L. |last11=Northcote |first11=L. |date=15 April 2010 |title=Holocene sedimentary record from Lake Tutira: A template for upland watershed erosion proximal to the Waipaoa Sedimentary System, northeastern New Zealand |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002532270900293X |journal=[[Marine Geology (journal)|Marine Geology]] |series=From mountain source to ocean sink – the passage of sediment across an active margin, Waipaoa Sedimentary System, New Zealand |volume=270 |issue=1 |pages=11–29 |doi=10.1016/j.margeo.2009.10.022 |bibcode=2010MGeol.270...11O |issn=0025-3227 |access-date=11 September 2023}}</ref>

=== Pacific ===
Evidence from the [[Galápagos Islands]] shows that the [[El Niño–Southern Oscillation#Southern Oscillation|El Niño–Southern Oscillation]] (ENSO) was significantly weaker during the Middle Holocene, but that the strength of ENSO became moderate to high over the Late Holocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Zhaohui |last2=Leduc |first2=Guillaume |last3=Sachs |first3=Julian P. |date=15 October 2014 |title=El Niño evolution during the Holocene revealed by a biomarker rain gauge in the Galápagos Islands |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X14004634 |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |volume=404 |pages=420–434 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2014.07.013 |bibcode=2014E&PSL.404..420Z |issn=0012-821X}}</ref>


==Ecological developments==
The decimation of terrestrial [[megafauna]] species outside of Africa during the preceding 40,000 years (the [[Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions]]), likely as a result of climate change, human hunting, or a combination of both, including in the extinction of over half of all megafauna species, left Holocene ecosystems highly altered and depauperate at their highest trophic levels compared to those in the preceding Pleistocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Svenning |first1=Jens-Christian |last2=Lemoine |first2=Rhys T. |last3=Bergman |first3=Juraj |last4=Buitenwerf |first4=Robert |last5=Le Roux |first5=Elizabeth |last6=Lundgren |first6=Erick |last7=Mungi |first7=Ninad |last8=Pedersen |first8=Rasmus Ø. |date=2024 |title=The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene |journal=Cambridge Prisms: Extinction |language=en |volume=2 |article-number=e5 |doi=10.1017/ext.2024.4 |issn=2755-0958 |pmc=11895740 |pmid=40078803}}</ref> Megafauna losses continued during the early-mid Holocene, with the [[Irish elk]] (''Megaloceros giganteus'', also known as the giant deer) surviving until around 7,700 years ago in western Russia,<ref name="Lister Stuart 2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Lister |first1=Adrian M. |last2=Stuart |first2=Anthony J. |date=January 2019 |title=The extinction of the giant deer ''Megaloceros giganteus'' (Blumenbach): New radiocarbon evidence |journal=Quaternary International |volume=500 |pages=185–203 |bibcode=2019QuInt.500..185L |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2019.03.025 |doi-access=free}}</ref> with [[woolly mammoths]] (''Mammuthus primigenius'') surviving in mainland Siberia until around 10,000 years ago,<ref name="TheLatestWoollyMammoths">{{Cite journal |last1=Stuart |first1=A. J. |last2=Sulerzhitsky |first2=L. D. |last3=Orlova |first3=L. A. |last4=Kuzmin |first4=Y. V. |last5=Lister |first5=A. M. |year=2002 |title=The latest woolly mammoths (''Mammuthus primigenius'' Blumenbach) in Europe and Asia: A review of the current evidence |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/13491/files/PAL_E271.pdf |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=21 |issue=14–15 |pages=1559–1569 |bibcode=2002QSRv...21.1559S |doi=10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00026-4}}</ref> with a small population on [[Wrangel Island]] surviving until around 4,000 years ago.<ref name="Dehasque-2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Dehasque |first1=Marianne |last2=Morales |first2=Hernán E. |last3=Díez-del-Molino |first3=David |last4=Pečnerová |first4=Patrícia |last5=Chacón-Duque |first5=J. Camilo |last6=Kanellidou |first6=Foteini |last7=Muller |first7=Héloïse |last8=Plotnikov |first8=Valerii |last9=Protopopov |first9=Albert |last10=Tikhonov |first10=Alexei |last11=Nikolskiy |first11=Pavel |last12=Danilov |first12=Gleb K. |last13=Giannì |first13=Maddalena |last14=van der Sluis |first14=Laura |last15=Higham |first15=Tom |date=June 2024 |title=Temporal dynamics of woolly mammoth genome erosion prior to extinction |journal=Cell |language=en |volume=187 |issue=14 |pages=3531–3540.e13 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.033 |pmid=38942016 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 

Throughout the world, ecosystems in cooler climates that were previously regional have been isolated in higher altitude ecological "islands".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXAnHwHd0XgC&pg=PA2 |title=One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment |last=Singh |first=Ashbindu |publisher=[[United Nations Environment Programme]] |year=2005 |page=4 |isbn=978-92-807-2571-1 |access-date=2017-06-28 |archive-date=2020-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102141345/https://books.google.com/books?id=TXAnHwHd0XgC&pg=PA2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Surviving animal species like the red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') showed different behaviours: In the Adriatic region, they have been shown to migrate less than in the Pleistocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pilaar Birch |first1=Suzanne E. |last2=Miracle |first2=Preston T. |last3=Stevens |first3=Rhiannon E. |last4=O'Connell |first4=Tamsin C. |date=2016-06-08 |editor-last=Mihlbachler |editor-first=Matthew C. |title=Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Migratory Behavior of Ungulates Using Isotopic Analysis of Tooth Enamel and Its Effects on Forager Mobility |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=6 |article-number=e0155714 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0155714 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4898698 |pmid=27275784 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1155714P }}</ref>[[File:Glacial lakes.jpg|thumb|right|Stages of [[proglacial lake]] development in the region of the current North American [[Great Lakes]]]]
The ''[[8.2-kiloyear event|8.2-ka event]]'', an abrupt cold spell recorded as a negative excursion in the {{delta|18|O|link}} record lasting 400 years, is the most prominent climatic event occurring in the Holocene Epoch, and may have marked a resurgence of ice cover. It has been suggested that this event was caused by the final drainage of [[Lake Agassiz]], which had been confined by the glaciers, disrupting the [[thermohaline]] circulation of the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barber |first1=D.C |last2=Dyke |first2=A. |last3=Hillaire-Marcel |first3=C. |last4=Jennings |first4=A.E. |last5=Andrews |first5=J.T. |last6=Kerwin |first6=M.W. |last7=Bilodeau |first7=G. |last8=McNeely |first8=R. |last9=Southon |first9=J. |last10=Morehead |first10=M.D. |last11=Gagnon |first11=J.-M. |date=July 22, 1999 |title=Forcing of the cold event of 8,200 years ago by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200032651 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=400 |issue=6742 |pages=344–348 |bibcode=1999Natur.400..344B |doi=10.1038/22504 |s2cid=4426918 |access-date=11 September 2023}}</ref> This disruption was the result of an ice dam over [[Hudson Bay]] collapsing sending cold [[lake Agassiz]] water into the [[North Atlantic ocean]].<ref name="Li-2012">{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yong-Xiang |last2=Törnqvist |first2=Torbjörn E. |last3=Nevitt |first3=Johanna M. |last4=Kohl |first4=Barry |date=15 January 2012 |title=Synchronizing a sea-level jump, final Lake Agassiz drainage, and abrupt cooling 8200years ago |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X11003177 |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |series=Sea Level and Ice Sheet Evolution: A PALSEA Special Edition |language=en |volume=315-316 |pages=41–50 |bibcode=2012E&PSL.315...41L |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2011.05.034 |issn=0012-821X |access-date=15 October 2023}}</ref> Furthermore, studies show that the melting of [[Lake Agassiz]] led to sea-level rise which flooded the North American coastal landscape. The basal peat plant was then used to determine the resulting local sea-level rise of 0.20-0.56m in the [[Mississippi Delta]].<ref name="Li-2012" /> Subsequent research, however, suggested that the discharge was probably superimposed upon a longer episode of cooler climate lasting up to 600 years and observed that the extent of the area affected was unclear.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rohling |first1=Eelco J. |last2=Pälike |first2=Heiko |date=21 April 2005 |title=Centennial-scale climate cooling with a sudden event around 8,200 years ago. |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03421 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=434 |issue=7036 |pages=975–979 |bibcode=2005Natur.434..975R |doi=10.1038/nature03421 |pmid=15846336 |s2cid=4394638 |access-date=15 October 2023}}</ref>

==Human developments==
{{further|Timeline of prehistory|Human history}}
[[File:World in 1000 BCE.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Overview map of the world at the end of the [[2nd millennium BC]], color-coded by cultural stage:
{{legend|#FFFF00|hunter-gatherers ([[Palaeolithic]] or [[Mesolithic]])}}
{{legend|#800080|nomadic pastoralists}}
{{legend|#00FF00|simple farming societies}}
{{legend|#FF8040|complex farming societies ([[Bronze Age]] [[Old World]], [[Olmecs]], [[Andean civilizations|Andes]])}}
{{legend|#8080FF|state societies ([[Early Iron Age|Fertile Crescent]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Zhou China|China]])}}]]
{{Human history|Holocene}}
The beginning of the Holocene corresponds with the beginning of the [[Mesolithic]] age in most of [[Europe]]. In regions such as the [[Middle East]] and [[Anatolia]], the term [[Epipaleolithic]] is preferred in place of Mesolithic, as they refer to approximately the same time period. Cultures in this period include [[Hamburg culture|Hamburgian]], [[Federmesser culture|Federmesser]], and the [[Natufian culture]], during which [[List of oldest continuously inhabited cities|the oldest inhabited places still existing on Earth]] were first settled, such as [[Tell es-Sultan]] (Jericho) in the [[Middle East]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Jericho<!-- |first=Kathleen Mary|last=Kenyon -author name NOT given in EB. Kathleen Kenyon was 5 in 1911!-->}}</ref> There is also evolving archeological evidence of [[origin of religion|proto-religion]] at locations such as [[Göbekli Tepe]], as long ago as the [[9th millennium BC]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/30706129.html |title=Göbekli Tepe: The World's First Temple? |last=Curry |first=Andrew |date=November 2008 |journal=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |access-date=March 14, 2009 |archive-date=March 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317075937/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/30706129.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The preceding period of the Late Pleistocene had already brought advancements such as the [[bow and arrow]], creating more efficient forms of hunting and replacing [[Spear-thrower|spear throwers]]. In the Holocene, however, the [[domestication]] of plants and animals allowed humans to develop villages and towns in centralized locations. Archaeological data shows that between 10,000 and 7,000 [[Before Present|BP]] rapid domestication of plants and animals took place in tropical and subtropical parts of [[Asia]], [[Africa]], and [[Central America]].<ref name="Gupta-2004">{{Cite journal |last=Gupta |first=Anil K. |date=10 July 2004 |title=Origin of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amelioration |journal=[[Current Science]] |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=54–59 |issn=0011-3891 |jstor=24107979 }}</ref> The development of farming allowed humans to transition away from [[hunter-gatherer]] nomadic cultures, which did not establish permanent settlements, to a more sustainable [[Sedentism|sedentary lifestyle]]. This form of lifestyle change allowed humans to develop towns and villages in centralized locations, which gave rise to the world known today. It is believed that the domestication of plants and animals began in the early part of the Holocene in the&nbsp;tropical areas of the planet.<ref name="Gupta-2004" /> Because these areas had warm, moist temperatures, the climate was perfect for effective farming. Culture development and human population change, specifically in South America, has also been linked to spikes in hydroclimate resulting in climate variability in the mid-Holocene (8.2–4.2 k cal BP).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Riris |first1=Philip |last2=Arroyo-Kalin |first2=Manuel |date=9 May 2019 |title=Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332968264 |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=6850 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.6850R |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-43086-w |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=6509208 |pmid=31073131 |access-date=15 October 2023}}</ref> Climate change on seasonality and available moisture also allowed for favorable agricultural conditions which promoted human development for Maya and Tiwanaku regions.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Brenner |first1=Mark |title=Chapter 6 – Abrupt Climate Change and Pre-Columbian Cultural Collapse |date=2001-01-01 |work=Interhemispheric Climate Linkages |pages=87–103 |editor-last=Markgraf |editor-first=Vera |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124726703500094 |access-date=2022-04-23 |place=San Diego, California |publisher=Academic Press |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-012472670-3/50009-4 |isbn=978-0-12-472670-3 |last2=Hodell |first2=David A. |last3=Rosenmeier |first3=Michael F. |last4=Curtis |first4=Jason H. |last5=Binford |first5=Michael W. |last6=Abbott |first6=Mark B.}}.</ref> In the [[Korea|Korean Peninsula]], climatic changes fostered a population boom during the [[Chulmun|Middle Chulmun]] period from 5,500 to 5,000 BP, but contributed to a subsequent bust during the Late and Final Chulmun periods, from 5,000 to 4,000 BP and from 4,000 to 3,500 BP respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Habeom |last2=Lee |first2=Gyoung-Ah |last3=Crema |first3=Enrico R. |date=10 December 2021 |title=Bayesian analyses question the role of climate in Chulmun demography |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=23797 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-03180-4 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8664936 |pmid=34893660 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1123797K }}</ref>

==Extinction event==
{{Main|Holocene extinction}}

The [[Holocene extinction]], otherwise referred to as the ''sixth mass extinction'' or ''Anthropocene extinction'',<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wagler|first1=Ron|year=2011|title=The Anthropocene Mass Extinction: An Emerging Curriculum Theme for Science Educators|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article/73/2/78/18301/The-Anthropocene-Mass-Extinction-An-Emerging|journal=The American Biology Teacher|volume=73|issue=2|pages= 78–83|doi=10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.5|s2cid=86352610}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Walsh|first=Alistair|date=January 11, 2022|title=What to expect from the world's sixth mass extinction|url=https://www.dw.com/en/what-to-expect-from-the-worlds-sixth-mass-extinction/a-60360245|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]|access-date=February 5, 2022}}</ref> is an ongoing [[extinction event]] of [[species]] during the present Holocene [[epoch (geology)|epoch]] (with the more recent time sometimes called Anthropocene) as a result of [[Human impact on the environment|human activity]].<ref name="WorldScientists">{{cite journal|vauthors=Ripple WJ, Wolf C, Newsome TM, Galetti M, Alamgir M, Crist E, Mahmoud MI, Laurance WF|title=World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice|journal=[[BioScience]]|volume=67|issue=12|pages=1026–1028|date=13 November 2017|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix125|url=http://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu/sites/sw/files/Warning_article_with_supp_11-13-17.pdf|quote=Moreover, we have unleashed a mass extinction event, the sixth in roughly 540 million years, wherein many current life forms could be annihilated or at least committed to extinction by the end of this century.|access-date=4 October 2022|archive-date=15 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215010626/https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu/sites/sw/files/Warning_article_with_supp_11-13-17.pdf}}</ref><ref name=Ceballos-Ehrlich-2018-06>{{cite journal|last1=Ceballos|first1=Gerardo|last2=Ehrlich|first2=Paul R.|author-link2=Paul R. Ehrlich|title=The misunderstood sixth mass extinction|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|date=8 June 2018|volume=360|issue=6393|pages=1080–1081|doi=10.1126/science.aau0191|pmid=29880679|oclc=7673137938|bibcode=2018Sci...360.1080C|s2cid=46984172|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau0191}}</ref><ref name=dirzo>{{cite journal|last= Dirzo|first= Rodolfo|author-link1=Rodolfo Dirzo|author2= Young, Hillary S.|author3= Galetti, Mauro|author4= Ceballos, Gerardo|author5= Isaac, Nick J. B.|author6= Collen, Ben|title= Defaunation in the Anthropocene|journal=Science|year= 2014|doi= 10.1126/science.1251817|pmid= 25061202|volume= 345|issue=6195|pages= 401–406|url=http://www.uv.mx/personal/tcarmona/files/2010/08/Science-2014-Dirzo-401-6-2.pdf|quote=In the past 500 years, humans have triggered a wave of extinction, threat, and local population declines that may be comparable in both rate and magnitude with the five previous mass extinctions of Earth's history.|bibcode= 2014Sci...345..401D|s2cid= 206555761}}</ref><ref name="Cowie">{{cite journal |last1= Cowie |first1=Robert H. |last2=Bouchet |first2=Philippe |last3=Fontaine |first3=Benoît |year=2022|title=The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation? |journal=Biological Reviews |volume= 97|issue= 2|pages= 640–663|doi=10.1111/brv.12816|pmid=35014169 |pmc=9786292 |s2cid=245889833 }}</ref> The included [[extinctions]] span numerous families of [[fungi]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Guy|first=Jack|date=September 30, 2020|title=Around 40% of the world's plant species are threatened with extinction|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/world/kew-gardens-plants-report-scli-intl-gbr-scn/index.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref> [[plant]]s,<ref>{{cite news |last=Hollingsworth |first=Julia |date=June 11, 2019 |title=Almost 600 plant species have become extinct in the last 250 years |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/11/asia/plant-extinctions-science-intl-hnk/ |access-date=January 14, 2020 |publisher=CNN |quote="The research – published Monday in Nature, Ecology & Evolution journal – found that 571 plant species have disappeared from the wild worldwide, and that plant extinction is occurring up to 500 times faster than the rate it would without human intervention."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Watts|first=Jonathan|date=August 31, 2021|title=Up to half of world's wild tree species could be at risk of extinction|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/01/up-to-half-worlds-wild-tree-species-could-risk-extinction|work=The Guardian|access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref> and [[animal]]s, including [[mammal]]s, [[bird]]s, [[reptile]]s, [[amphibian]]s, [[fish]] and [[invertebrates]]. With widespread degradation of [[Biodiversity hotspot|highly biodiverse]] habitats such as [[coral reef]]s and [[rainforest]]s, as well as other areas, the vast majority of these extinctions are thought to be undocumented, as the species are undiscovered at the time of their extinction, or no one has yet discovered their extinction. The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than [[Background extinction rate|natural background extinction rates]].<ref name=Ceballos-Ehrlich-2018-06/><ref name="Li-2012"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=De Vos|first1=Jurriaan M.|last2=Joppa|first2=Lucas N.|last3=Gittleman|first3=John L.|last4=Stephens|first4=Patrick R.|last5=Pimm|first5=Stuart L.|date=2014-08-26|title=Estimating the normal background rate of species extinction|journal=Conservation Biology|volume=29|issue=2|pages=452–462|doi=10.1111/cobi.12380|pmid=25159086|bibcode=2015ConBi..29..452D |s2cid=19121609 |issn=0888-8892|language=es|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/98443/1/Conservation_Biology_2014_early-view.pdf}}</ref><ref name="PimmJenkins">{{cite journal |last1=Pimm |first1=S. L. |last2=Jenkins |first2=C. N. |last3=Abell |first3=R. |last4=Brooks |first4=T. M. |last5=Gittleman |first5=J. L. |last6=Joppa |first6=L. N. |last7=Raven |first7=P. H. |last8=Roberts |first8=C. M. |last9=Sexton |first9=J. O. |date=30 May 2014 |title=The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection |url=http://static.squarespace.com/static/51b078a6e4b0e8d244dd9620/t/538797c3e4b07a163543ea0f/1401395139381/Pimm+et+al.+2014.pdf |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=344 |issue=6187 |article-number=1246752 |doi=10.1126/science.1246752 |pmid=24876501 |s2cid=206552746 |quote=The overarching driver of species extinction is human population growth and increasing per capita consumption.}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery
|align=center
|File:North-western_European_Holocene_Climate_Proxies_and_Culture_Stages,_by_Hans_J.J.G._Holm.png|alt1=|Combination of temperature indicators ("proxies") for north-western Europe from Greenland icecores and Alpine glacier extensions, with subdivisions from three disciplines
|File:VeyoVolcano.jpg|alt2=|Holocene [[cinder cone]] volcano on [[Utah State Route 18]] near [[Veyo, Utah|Veyo]]
|File:Doggerland.svg|alt3=|Paleogeographic reconstruction of the [[North Sea]] approximately 9,000 years ago during the early Holocene and after the end of the [[Last Glacial Period]]
|File:Collier_de_Penne.jpg|alt4=|Bronze bead necklace, [[Muséum de Toulouse]]
}}

==See also==
{{portal |Earth sciences |Geology}}
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[4.2-kiloyear event]]
* [[8.2-kiloyear event]]
* [[10th millennium BC]]
* [[Blytt–Sernander system]]
* [[Holocene calendar]]
* [[African humid period]]
* [[Older Peron]]
* [[Outburst flood]]
* [[Piora Oscillation]]
* [[Late Pleistocene extinctions]]
* [[Ostrich eggshell beads]]{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |title=Holocene landscape intervention and plant food production strategies in island and mainland Southeast Asia |first1=C. O. |last1=Hunt |first2=R. J. |last2=Rabett |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |year=2014 |volume=51 |pages=22–33 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2013.12.011 |bibcode=2014JArSc..51...22H |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |editor1-last = Mackay |editor1-first = A. W. |editor-link1=Anson W. Mackay |editor2-last = Battarbee |editor2-first = R.W. |editor3-last = Birks |editor3-first = H.J.B. |display-editors = 3 |editor4-last = Oldfield |editor4-first = F. |title = Global change in the Holocene |year = 2003 |publisher = Arnold |location = London |isbn = 978-0-340-76223-3 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Neil |title=The Holocene: an environmental history |year=2014 |edition=3rd |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Malden, Massachusetts |isbn=978-1-4051-5521-2}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|Holocene}}
{{Commons category|Holocene}}
{{Wikisource portal|Cenozoic#Quaternary}}
{{EB1911 poster|Holocene}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180118215702/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth/Holocene The Holocene epoch explained by the BBC]
* [https://ghkclass.com/ghkC.html?Holocene ghK Classification]
* [https://www.dandebat.dk/eng-klima7.htm History of Earth's Climate 7 – Cenozoic IV – Holocene]

{{Holocene footer}}
{{Quaternary footer}}
{{Geological history|p|c}}
{{Prehistoric technology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Holocene| ]]
[[Category:Geological epochs]]
[[Category:Quaternary geochronology]]
[[Category:Interglacials]]
[[Category:Historical eras]]