Cenozoic is the period of the mammals, which followed the Mesozoic that was the period of dinosaurs.Tertiary is that part of Cenozoic, where no humans existed , and Quaternary means the part of Cenozoic, where humans exist.The interglacial Holocene has supported the development and growth of human civilizations, it has been the cradle of civilization, not to say their uterus.
Holocene has a near flat top, which represents a fairly stable climate through ten thousand years, while the preceding interglacials are generally pointed, that is the temperature has risen to a maximum and then declined again, maybe after only a few hundred years.
Only Holocene could offer a stable climate for a long time, during which agriculture and civilization could develop.
This unique climatic stability made the development of agriculture possible, it created basis for the development of civilizations and enabled eventually the industrial revolution and consequently the modern world with its technique and myriads of people.
Had we not had a window of about 10,000 years of stable climate with only small temperature variations, civilization would not have been nearly as developed, if at all existent, and Earth's population would have been only a fraction of the current.
Thus we speak of five to seven cold periods in Holocene, including the Little Ice Age and several warm periods, including the Minoan, Roman, Medieval and Modern Warm Periods.
Temperature variations in the Holocene compared with the previous Weichsel ice age based on analysis of Greenland ice cores.
Note moreover almost all heating periods characteristic shape.
The heat comes suddenly, perhaps in a few decades and then decreases slowly.
Quaternary is composed of Pleistocene and Holocene.
Pleistocene is the period that we in common language call the Ice Age.
About 8,000 years before present, in Hunter Stone Age, occurred the hottest period throughout the Holocene.