Is Glacial A Period In Time?

Glacial, the word by itself implies to be or pertaining to ice. Glacial when referred to as an epoch or an age refers more particularly to an age of frost and snow and frigidity and freezing—also better known as the ice age. A somewhat peculiar interpretation of how life would be like then has been portrayed in two films with a similar name!

Years and years ago, the earth moved in cycles, cycles which often repeated an ice age where most of the earth's surface was frozen and covered in a blanket of snow. The glacial epoch itself commonly refers to the most recent ice age which lasted during the last stages of the Pleistocene (a time period which lasted about 10000 years ago). The evolution of our species, the spread of human beings and the extinction of various species such as the wooly mammoth, the saber tooth etc., characterize the end of this age which saw the melting of the ice. It is of course no surprise that the extinction of certain species during this age is attributed to the love of steak! Jokes apart, even if this may be so as some controversial theories suggest—it was probably a combination of excessive hunting and the inability to adapt to warmer temperatures that led to their early extinction.