After two to three million years of alternating warm and cold periods culminating in the last great Ice Age, a great warming trend that began about 14,000 years ago brought an end to the Ice Age. Although geologists have termed the time since the end of the last great ice age the Holocene, it really belongs to the Pleistocene, since there were warmer periods that lasted much longer than the present one even in the middle of the Pleistocene. Whatever epoch you choose to envision us in, the great warming that ended the Wisconsin/Wurm/Weichsel Glaciation had enormous implications for the development and spread of humanity on this planet. This assignment will briefly review the physical events of the end of the last great glacial period.

	1. Contents 2. Introduction 3. Global Trends 4. Physical Phenomena 5. Environmental Changes 6. Environmental Summary 7. Global Warming 8. Conclusion Courseware Page
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