Interdisciplinary journal of fundamental scientific research on environmental change over the last 10,000 years, including past, present and future changes on local, regional and global scales. Topics include geological, biological and archaeological evidence of recent climate change; interdisciplinary studies of environmental history and prehistory; the development of natural and cultural landscapes and ecosystems; and the prediction of future changes in the environment from the record of the past.

Focuses on studies in the earth and biological sciences and features papers on previously unpublished research results for a diverse audience.

Publishes original papers on any field of Quaternary research, and aims to promote a wider appreciation and deeper understanding of the earth's history during the last two million years.

Articles of wide international interest from all branches of Quaternary research are published. Biological as well as non-biological aspects of the Quaternary environment, in both glaciated and non-glaciated areas, are dealt with: Climate, shore displacement, glacial features, land forms, sediments, organisms and their habitat, and stratigraphical and chronological relationships.