Holocene, also called the post-Ice Age period, is the present. It was preceded by the Pleistocene Epoch. Holocene began at the end of the last Ice Age (about 10 000 years ago). At that time the ice sheets began to melt, raising the sea level and forming elements of the modern Earth, such as Scandinavia and Hudson's Bay. Modern plants and animals appear. The first modern humans appear as well.