URL: http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/fall12/atmo336/lectures/sec5/holocene.html Summary of distinct climatic periods during the Holocene epoch: Period Name Climate conditions 14,000 years ago Holocene warming Slow warming from the last ice age; large ice melt. 10,000-8,500 BC Younger-Dryas Rapid cooling, prolonged cold period, then rapid warming. 5,000-3,000 BC Climatic Optimum Warm conditions; temperatures were perhaps 1 to 2 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today. Great ancient civilizations began and flourished. 3,000-2,000 BC Cooling trend, drops in sea level and the emergence of many islands. 2,000-1,500 BC Short warming trend. 1,500-750 BC Colder temperatures and renewed ice growth, sea level drop of between 2 to 3 meters below present day levels. 750-150 BC Slight warming not as warm as the Climatic Optimum. 150-900 AD Cooling trend; Nile River (829 AD) and Black Sea (800-801 AD) froze. 1100-1300 AD Medieval Optimum Warmest climate since the Climatic Optimum, Vikings established settlements on Greenland and Iceland. 1300-1550 AD Cool and more extreme weather, abandonment of settlements in the Southwest United States. 1550-1850 AD Little Ice Age Coldest temperatures since the beginning of the Holocene. Populations die from crop failure and famine in Europe. 1850-2013 AD Contemporary Warming trend.