Quarternary
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The Quarternary is the connection to the geologic present. The configuration of the continents and the living beings are mostly the same as today. An accentuated climate, due to polar icing, caused several ice ages during the Pleistocene, interrupted by warm ages called interglacials. Away from the glaciers the landscape resembled much of today's Siberia, with plants and animals well adapted to cold weather. During the warm ages the glaciers retreated, the climate even got warm and moderate. The last ice age ended approx. 10,000 years ago. But the geologic present, the Holocene, is probably just another interglacial that will be followed by a new ice age.

During the Quarternary Homo sapiens spread over the entire planet. The low sea level during the ice ages and pressure for relocation due to a changing environment are highly important for that spreading. The challenging climate also had an enormous impact on the development of cultural abilities. After the end of the last ice age, agriculture developed and, as a result, people stopped wandering around and stayed at one place.

Important index fossils in continental sediments are mammals and pollen, and molluscs in marine and fresh water sediments.
Stratigraphic divisions of the Quarternary in the Alps region and southern Germany.

(Ages according to FAUPL 2000)
Flint debris, made by Homo sapiens sapiens

The preferred use of flint for tool making created the necessity for trading connections. Groups that did not live next to a source of flint needed to trade goods with other groups to get the raw material.

The flint pieces shown here probably originated from the Upper Jurassic of the Schwäbische Alb. The tool maker either had a day-long walk to reach the source or swapped the flint from another group.

Neolithic, Kernen im Remstal
Scale length, if not otherwise stated: 1 cm