GoFossilHunting

Quaternary · 2.58 Ma – present

Quaternary fossil sites

The current period, defined by repeated ice ages, the rise of modern human evolution, and the late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions. Quaternary fossil sites include cave deposits, tar pits, river gravels, and permafrost-preserved Ice Age remains.

A pair of long curved mammoth tusks mounted together
Photo: Лапоть, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Quaternary covers the last 2.6 million years and includes the present day. Ice sheets advanced and retreated repeatedly. Sea level fell by more than 100 meters during glacial maxima and rose again between them. Humans evolved, spread across every continent, and arrived alongside the megafauna that then disappeared.

Quaternary fossils are young enough that bone often survives as bone rather than as stone. Caves, tar seeps, and river gravels concentrate the material. Mammoth, mastodon, giant sloth, and dire wolf all come from such settings. Marine terraces preserve shells that differ little from those on the beach below them.

Twenty-three entries here fall in the Quaternary. Fifteen are viewing sites, which reflects how often Quaternary material sits inside caves and reserves. Naracoorte in South Australia and Atapuerca in Spain both hold World Heritage status. Six sites allow free collecting, mostly coastal exposures and river gravels. Radiocarbon dating works on material younger than about 50,000 years, so many Quaternary finds carry a real calendar age rather than a stage name.

23 fossil sites

Updated 4 August 2026

Life of the period

Three to know from the Quaternary

You will not find all of these yourself. They are the animals and plants that make the period worth reading about.

  • A mounted woolly mammoth with long curving tusks in a museum hall.
    Woolly mammothMammuthus

    A small population survived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until roughly 4,000 years ago. The pyramids at Giza were already old by then.

    anagoria, CC BY 3.0

  • Mounted Ice Age mammal skeletons lit in a museum gallery.
    Sabre-toothed catSmilodon

    The canines were long, flat, and fragile, unsuited to bone. It probably used its heavy forelimbs to pin prey first, then bit the throat. The La Brea tar seeps have produced thousands of individuals.

    Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0

  • A mounted giant ground sloth skeleton rearing on its hind legs.
    Giant ground slothMegalonyx

    Thomas Jefferson described the claws in 1797 and thought they came from a huge lion. The species name honours him anyway. It is West Virginia's state fossil.

    Bloopityboop, CC BY-SA 4.0

All Quaternary sites

Frequently asked questions

Is Quaternary material really fossilized?
Often only partly. Bone from the last few tens of thousands of years may keep its original protein. Older or mineral-rich settings produce fully permineralized bone. Both count as fossils, and both need the same care.
Where can I find Ice Age fossils?
River gravels, coastal exposures, and caves. In the United States, the Carolinas and the Florida rivers produce mammoth and mastodon teeth. Caves preserve smaller vertebrates but are usually protected and dangerous to enter.
What happened to the megafauna?
Most large mammals died out between about 50,000 and 10,000 years ago. Climate change at the end of the last glaciation and hunting pressure from expanding human populations both contributed. The relative weight of each cause is still debated.