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How did the Paleolithic Period overlap with the Pleistocene Epoch?

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The Venus of Willendorf, a small Upper Paleolithic limestone figurine with exaggerated female features and textured head, displayed against a black background. — Paleolithic Period The Venus of Willendorf, a Upper Paleolithic limestone figurine originally colored with red ochre, 30,000–25,000 bce, found at Willendorf, Lower Austria; in the Natural History Museum, Vienna.

The Paleolithic Period and the Pleistocene Epoch are deeply intertwined, as the majority of the Paleolithic cultural stage occurred within the timeframe of the Pleistocene.1

The Pleistocene Epoch lasted from approximately 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago, a period characterized by significant climatic shifts, including successive glacial and interglacial cycles. The Paleolithic Period is defined by the development of stone tool technology, with its origins traditionally linked to the start of the Pleistocene about 2.58 million years ago, though some evidence suggests toolmaking may have begun even earlier in the Pliocene.213

Throughout the Paleolithic, human cultural development was profoundly influenced by the environmental factors of the Pleistocene, such as the formation of ice sheets and changes in global flora and fauna. The Paleolithic Period is widely considered to have concluded around 11,700 years ago, coinciding with the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene Epoch, as human societies began to adapt to the new post-Pleistocene environments.1