Final answer:
The Cenozoic Era, or the age of mammals, which began about 65 million years ago, marked the rise of human civilization, particularly in the Quaternary Period with the evolution of Homo sapiens. Option C is correct .
Step-by-step explanation:
The rise of human civilization is marked by the Cenozoic Era, which is also known as the era of "modern life" or the age of mammals. This era began about 65 million years ago, after the extinction of the dinosaurs, and continues to the present day. Mammals, including humans, evolved to fill various ecological niches during the Cenozoic. Specifically, the Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic, which includes the last ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, sees the evolution and the rise of Homo sapiens into a civilization-forming species during the Neolithic period, also known as the Agricultural Age. It was in this time that humans began the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settlers who cultivated crops and domesticated animals.