List of time periods

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "List of time periods" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article or section possibly contains synthesis of material which does not verifiably mention or relate to the main topic. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The categorisation of the past into discrete, quantified named blocks of time is called periodization.^[1] This is a list of such named time periods as defined in various fields of study.

These can be divided broadly into prehistorical periods and historical periods (when written records began to be kept).

In archaeology and anthropology, prehistory is subdivided into the three-age system, this list includes the use of the three-age system as well as a number of various designation used in reference to sub-ages within the traditional three.

The dates for each age can vary by region. On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of the Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch.