This article presents state-of-the-art atmospheric methane reconstruction based on ice-core studies. Starting with a biogeochemical overview of the methane cycle, it also introduces the processes of gas diffusion in firn and trapping in ice. It presents and discusses the anthropogenic impact on atmospheric CH4, and then the trend of this greenhouse gas over the last millennium, the Holocene, the last glaciation and deglaciation (including a short introduction on its use as a stratigraphic marker for correlating ice cores), and the last eight glacial-interglacial cycles. Analytical techniques are also briefly described. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.