Penultimate glacial period

The penultimate glacial period is the glacial period that occurred before the last glacial period. It began 185,000 years ago, and ended 135,000 years ago with the beginning of the Eemian interglacial.^[1] It roughly coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 6 (see Marine Isotope Stage) and the Illinoian Stage. The penultimate glacial period is one of a series of glacial and interglacial periods of the Quaternary Ice Age/Quaternary Glaciation. The Quaternary Ice Age began 2.58 million years ago and is ongoing. It began with the formation of the Arctic Ice Cap. The Quaternary Ice Age is part of an even longer ice age called the Late Cenozoic Ice Age. It began 33.9 million years ago and is also ongoing. It began with the formation of the Antarctic Ice Cap. Just like the last glacial period, the penultimate glacial period has no name. The word penultimate means second to last.

The penultimate glacial period is the first glacial period that Homo sapiens experienced, but not the first for the Neanderthals.

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