c. 9700 BCE
Formal beginning of the Holocene
Climate & environment · Holoceno · Paleoclima · Núcleos de hielo
The International Commission on Stratigraphy defines the base of the Holocene at 11,700 years before 2000, using a reference point in Greenland’s NGRIP2 ice core. It is a stratigraphic definition based on an ice proxy; it does not imply that climatic change occurred in the same way or on the same date in every region.
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · approximate
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: point event.
Sources
- stratigraphy.org (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- Not identified in metadata; document review pending
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.