The generally accepted view is that the last period of the Earth’s history, that started roughly two and a half million years ago (the so-called Quaternary), comprises two eras, the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The Pleistocene is the latest age, but it can also be called the Ice Age, since one of its characteristics is the alternation of long glacial periods with cold climates and shorter interglacial periods with warm climates. The Holocene means present times: it is in fact the last interglacial, but it is distinguished from older periods by the significant spread of modern humans, Homo sapiens, across the Earth. For this reason, many researchers – although they are in minority – believe that the term Anthropocene should be applied to the Holocene, while others believe that the term Anthropocene should indeed be introduced, but only for the last phase of the Holocene, which continues to the present day. However, there is no consensus on when this „last stage” began, where to put the lower limit of the Anthropocene epoch. There is general agreement that the beginning of the Anthropocene can be marked by the detectable impact of humanity on the Earth’s biota and natural environment, but researchers have different views on the defining impact. Some would start with the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th century, while others would consider the advent of plastics to be the decisive factor. In this case, the beginning of the Anthropocene would be placed around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Still others consider the emergence of nuclear waste to be the key moment, which would suggest that the Anthropocene can be used from the mid-20th century. Following the extreme view of some researchers that the beginning of agriculture marks the beginning of the Anthropocene, the situation mentioned earlier would be effective, namely, to rename the Holocene as the Anthropocene. Although it is generally accepted in scientific circles that the various activities of mankind have for some time now been strikingly changing or are changing the face of our planet, the term Anthropocene is not yet officially used in geological nomenclature.