Learn Italian: L'era glaciale è finita molto tempo fa. - The glacial era finished a long time ago.

When placed immediately after an amount of time, fa means 'ago'. It actually comes from the verb fare (to make), so molto tempo fa literally means 'much time makes'. Just like the word 'ago' in English, fa always goes at the very end of the time phrase.

Why does the sentence use è finita (is finished) instead of ha finito (has finished)?

The verb finire (to finish) uses essere (to be) as its helping verb when the subject is the thing that is ending on its own, like an era, a movie, or a storm. You only use avere (to have) as the helping verb when someone finishes an object, like finishing a meal or your homework.

Why does the past participle end in '-a' (finita)?

Whenever you use essere as a helping verb for the past tense, the ending of the past participle must match the gender and number of the subject. The subject here is L'era (the era), which is feminine and singular, so finito changes to finita.

Why doesn't Italian just use the word for 'ice' to say 'Ice Age'?

While English uses the noun 'ice' to make 'Ice Age', Italian uses the adjective glaciale (glacial) to describe the era. So the literal translation is 'the glacial era', with the adjective placed after the noun as usual in Italian.