Meghalayan

Meghalayan
Meghalayan
Chronology
−12 — – −11 — – −10 — – −9 — – −8 — – −7 — – −6 — – −5 — – −4 — – −3 — – −2 — – −1 — – 0 —	Cenozoic Quaternary PC Holocene "Upper" Greenlandian Northgrippian Meghalayan
	Ages of the Holocene Epoch. ; Axis scale: thousands of years ago.;
Etymology
Name formality	Formal
Name ratified	14 June 2018
Usage information
Celestial body	Earth
Regional usage	Global (ICS)
Time scale(s) used	ICS Time Scale
Definition
Chronological unit	Age
Stratigraphic unit	Stage
Time span formality	Formal
Lower boundary definition	4.2 kiloyear event
Lower boundary GSSP	Mawmluh Cave, Meghalaya, India; 25.2622°N 91.7150°E
Lower GSSP ratified	14 June 2018
Upper boundary definition	Ongoing
Upper boundary GSSP	N/A
Upper GSSP ratified	N/A

The Meghalayan age is the name given in 2018, by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, to the current age or latest geologic age – or uppermost stage of the Quaternary. It is also the upper, or latest, of three subdivisions of the Holocene epoch or series. This way of breaking down time is based only on geology; for example, it is unrelated to the three-age system of historical periods into which human development is sometimes divided.

The Meghalayan begins 4,200 years BP (c. 2251 BCE or 7750 HE), leaving room for the possible introduction of the Anthropocene. Helama & Oinonen (2019) dated the start of the Meghalayan to 2190–1990 BCE. The age began with a 200-year drought that impacted human civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Yangtze River Valley. "The fact that the beginning of this age coincides with a cultural shift caused by a global climate event makes it unique," according to Stanley Finney, Secretary General of the International Union of Geological Sciences.

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