Question

What is the age of man on Earth?
A. Proterozoic
B. Recent
C. Mesozoic
D. 100 years

Answer 1

Hint: As per the geological time scale, the current period is the Holocene Epoch. It is sometimes also referred to as the Anthropocene Epoch as it is chiefly characterized by the variations triggered via human activity at a global level.

Complete answer:
Proterozoic refers to a period in the history of Earth which began 2.5 billion years back and came to an end 542.0 million years ago. This era was marked by the utmost stimulating events that occurred in the Earth’s history. First appearance of stable continents occurred in this era only. Also the primary prolific fossils of living entities of most of the archaea and bacteria were found early in this period but around 1.8 billion years ago; eukaryotic cells appeared as fossils as well. Hence, it is not the age of man.
Moreover, the Mesozoic Era is also known as the age of reptiles. A paleontologist, Gideon Mantell introduced this phrase in the 19th century.
However, a geological epoch, namely the Holocene was started at the completion of the Pleistocene and endures till present. The Holocene forms the fragment of the Quaternary period. This epoch derived its name from the Greek origin that means "entirely recent".

Note: In the time scale, the suffix "-cene" is often used to refer to the geological epochs. The Holocene, also called the Anthropogene, is the "Age of Man". The phrase "Age of Man" is mostly referred to in the social context. This marks the time periods when human beings started to have a distinctive influence on the surrounding environment and started to establish civilizations.