The Late Quaternary distribution history of small carnivores in Europe was strongly influenced by climate and humans. Subfossil records from geological or archaeological excavations can be used to reconstruct spatio-temporal dynamics of species for the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs. During full glacial conditions, around 60–15 thousand years ago (kya), Central European regions were only permanently colonized by the wolverine, Gulo gulo , and both stoat, Mustela erminea , and least weasel, M. nivalis . From around 14 kya, the European polecat, M. putorius , European badger, Meles meles , pine marten, Martes martes , red fox, Vulpes vulpes , and European wild cat, Felis silvestris , spread into northern regions due to climate warming (Greenland Interstadial 1) and associated stepwise reforestation of those regions. The Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra , colonized Central Europe for the first time during the Early Holocene. In contrast to several other small carnivore species from temperate regions that survived and recolonized Central Europe from refugial regions such as Iberia, the Apennine peninsula, the Carpathians or the Balkans, the otter was restricted to the Apennine peninsula and its low genetic diversity as well as its late arrival may be a consequence of this. The stone marten, Martes foina , probably followed Neolithic settlers out of Asia Minor, whereas the origin and colonization pattern of the European mink, Mustela lutreola , remains enigmatic. Small carnivores experienced limited distributional shifts during the Holocene in comparison to larger carnivores, probably due to their ecological plasticity and relative resilience to human impacts. The European wild cat disappeared from northern regions after the Holocene thermal optimum and both the pine marten and the European polecat may have experienced some range contraction during the Medieval, but most species broadly maintained their Holocene distributions to the present day.