The Quaternary is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the Phanerozoic eon. It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.6 million years ago to the present. The Quaternary Period is divided into two epochs: the Pleistocene and the Holocene ; a proposed third epoch, the Anthropocene, was rejected in 2024 by International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the governing body of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).