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This special issue of QSR comprises a series of papers written to celebrate the careers of Neil Roberts (Professor of Physical Geography) and Henry Lamb (Professor of Quaternary Science), as they retire from full-time posts. Both Henry's and Neil's research careers have been exceptional, marked by novel, cutting-edge research of the very highest quality within cognate disciplines and which address the big questions in Quaternary Science. Both have promoted the importance of environmental change; Neil primarily in the ‘sea in the middle of the earth’ (i.e., the lands bordering the Mediterranean) and Henry in tropical east Africa and Morocco. Both have made immense contributions to our understanding of global change in the Quaternary and have been instrumental in raising the discipline to new levels of scientific rigour. They both have CVs listing over 100 publications and still counting. This volume is an opportunity to celebrate their work and say thanks.

This paper reviews previous work conducted on Laser Ablation – Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) sourcing 33 Clovis period projectile points from the Gault Site (41BL323) in Central Texas. This paper includes new geochemical data from four new primary geologic sources to increase an Edwards Plateau region chert database to 302 primary geologic samples from 204 samples with which to test against the geochemistry of the 33 Clovis artifacts. These artifacts are then assessed with regards to their form, breakage patterns, and distance to source to suggest a blended model of mobility for Clovis period hunter-gatherers in Central Texas. This data suggests that the pattern of movement across the landscape of the Edwards Plateau for these hunter-gatherers may have been a blended pattern alternating between collector and forager based on changing distribution of resources seasonally. This patterning may have been influenced for the Gault Clovis hunter-gatherers reliant on availability of chert resources as well as ecotonal density and diversity of plants and animals; especially, as gauged by Clovis site types and distribution spread throughout much of the Southern Great Plains.

This paper introduces a series of articles assembled in a special issue that explore Holocene climate evolution, as recorded in lakes on the Island of Amsterdamoya on the westernmost fringe of the Arctic Svalbard archipelago. Due to its location near the interface of oceanic and atmospheric systems sourced from Arctic and Atlantic regions, Amsterdamoya is a key site for recording the terrestrial response to marine and atmospheric changes. We employed multi-proxy approaches on lake sediments, integrating physical, biogeochemical, and isotopic analyses to infer past changes in temperature, precipitation, and glacier activity. The results comprise a series of quantitative Holocene-length paleoclimate reconstructions that reveal different aspects of past climate change. Each of the four papers addresses various facets of the Holocene climate history of north-western Svalbard, including a reconstruction of the Annabreen glacier based on the sedimentology of the distal glacier-fed lake Gjoavatnet, a reconstruction of changing hydrologic conditions based on sedimentology and stratigraphy in Lake Hakluytvatnet, reconstruction of summer temperature based on alkenone paleothermometry from lakes Hakluytvatnet and Hajeren, and a hydrogen isotope-based hydrological reconstruction from lake Hakluytvatnet. We also present high-resolution paleomagnetic secular variation data from the same lake, which document important regional magnetic field variations and demonstrate the potential for use in synchronizing Holocene sedimentary records in the Arctic. The paleoclimate picture that emerges is one of early Holocene warmth from ca. 10.5 ka BP interrupted by transient cooling ca. 10-8ka BP, and followed by cooling that mostly manifested as two stepwise events ca. 7 and 4 ka BP. The past 4ka were characterized by dynamic glaciers and summer temperature fluctuations decoupled from the declining summer insolation.

This special issue relates to the Second International Conference of the PAST Gateways (Palaeo-Arctic Spatial and Temporal Gateways) network which was held in Trieste, Italy in 2014. Twenty five papers are included and they address topics under four main themes: (1) The growth and decay of Arctic ice sheets; (2) Arctic sea ice and palaeoceanography; (3) Terrestrial Arctic environments and permafrost change; and (4) Holocene Arctic environmental change. Geographically the focus is circum-Arctic; the special issue includes detailed regional studies from Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia, and Arctic North America and the adjoining seas, as well as a series of synthesis-type, review papers on Fennoscandian Ice Sheet deglaciation and Holocene Arctic palaeo-climate change. The methodologies employed are diverse and include marine sediment core and geophysical investigations, terrestrial glacial geology and geomorphology, isotopic analysis of ground ice, palaeo-ecological analysis of lacustrine and terrestrial sedimentary archives, geochronology and numerical ice sheet modeling.

This paper examines the evidence for climatic changes in the Eastern Mediterranean for the period 200–800 AD and offers hypotheses on the role of climatic fluctuations in the societal developments that occurred in this region at the end of Antiquity. The geographical focus of the paper includes Anatolia and the Levant, two major regions of the Eastern Roman Empire that are rich in environmental, historical and archaeological data. The paper starts with the review of current research on the economic, settlement and vegetation history of the Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity, which provides the necessary framework for the study of potential climate impacts. The core of the article is devoted to the analysis of the palaeoclimatic evidence, which is divided in two groups. The first one encompasses the direct evidence, that is palaeoclimate proxies and the textual record of extreme weather events, while the second includes indirect information on climate, in particular multi-proxy studies that include pollen analysis, archaeological evidence, and the historical evidence of subsistence crises. We conclude that during our study period there occurred three periods of substantially different climatic conditions. A late Roman drought ∼350–470 AD was followed by a dramatic shift to much wetter climatic conditions. These in turn changed into increasing dryness after ∼730 AD in Anatolia and ∼670 AD in the Levant. The lack of chronological precision in the dating of the archaeological evidence and of some climatic records makes it impossible at present to make conclusive observations regarding the societal responses to these climatic fluctuations. Nonetheless in all probability, the extended and – in some areas - severe late Roman drought did not cause any major social upheaval or economic decline in Anatolia or the Levant, although it appears to have contributed to a change in patterns of water use in the cities. In contrast, the increased availability of moisture after ∼470 AD does appear to have contributed to the expansion of rural settlement and agriculture into environmentally marginal terrain, including semi-arid areas such as the Negev. In this way climate probably contributed to the general economic prosperity of the late Roman Empire in the east of the Mediterranean basin. The end of this late Roman world system came about finally in mid-7th c. and, at least in Anatolia, is not directly associated with any shift in climatic conditions. Aridity during early Medieval times may be one of the main factors behind the gradual long-term decline of settlement on the marginal lands in the Levant following Islamic conquest.

In a recent paper ( Lewis et al., 2019 ) we reported the results of geological and archaeological investigations at Happisburgh Site 1. We also considered the significance of the site for understanding the human occupation of northern Europe during the early Middle Pleistocene. In a comment on the paper, Gibbard et al. (2019) raise a number of issues concerning lithostratigraphic terminology, the age of the deposits at Site 1, and the wider regional context of the Site 1 archaeological assemblage. Here we respond to Gibbard and colleagues’ objections and, in particular, we present evidence in support of our contention that the Palaeolithic assemblages from the Breckland sites of Warren Hill and High Lodge pre-date the Anglian (MIS 12) glaciation and may be considered to date to MIS 13.

The paper comments on recently published paper by T.Salamon dealing with maximum extent of North European Ice Sheets in Central European sector from the viewpoint of Czech data published from the Moravian Gate and Ostrava Basin areas

The Levant region of Israel, located along the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, is characterized by Mediterranean climate, but sixty km eastwards towards the Dead Sea Rift Valley (DSRV), the region rapidly becomes a ‘rain shadowʼ desert. Speleothems from the Mediterranean climate zone continuously grew throughout several glacial/interglacial cycles, indicating that water was always available in the unsaturated zone. Their δ18O variations match global and regional climate changes, with the Eastern Mediterranean Sea being the major control on their δ18O values, as evident from the similarity between the speleothems and the planktonic foraminifer G. ruber records. In contrast, speleothems along the central and southern segments of the DSRV grew mainly during last glacial periods coinciding with the higher stands of Lake Lisan, the precursor of the present-day Dead Sea. This paper discusses the newly discovered Zalmon Cave speleothems, located in the northern segment of the DSRV shedding light on the hydrological conditions along the rift during last glacial. Unlike speleothems located further south along the DSRV, Zalmon Cave speleothems grew both during glacial and interglacial periods. However, during last glacial their δ18O values, shifted to lower values by ∼1–2‰ relative to speleothems from central Israel coinciding also with the largest difference in δ18O values between Zalmon Cave speleothems and the marine record. The data suggest that a change of the westerlies' storm tracks occurred during most of the last glacial period, which resulted in increased rainfall in the northern DSRV providing freshwater input during the otherwise relatively ‘drierʼ glacial.

This paper presents results of a multidisciplinary research initiative examining human responses to environmental change at the intersection of the southern coastal plain of the Caspian Sea and the foothills of the Alborz Mountains during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. Our palaeo-environmental analysis of two sedimentary cores obtained from a lagoon in close proximity to four caves, occupied by human groups during the transition from hunting and gathering to food-producing ways of life in this region, confirms Charles McBurney's 1968 hypothesis that when Caspian Sea levels were high, Mesolithic hunters were reliant on seal and deer, but as water levels receded and a wide coastal plain emerged, hunters consumed a different range of herbivorous mammalian species. Palynological evidence obtained from these two cores also demonstrates that the cool and dry climatic conditions often associated with the Younger Dryas stadial do not appear to have been extreme in this region. Thus, increasingly sedentary hunting and gathering groups could have drawn on plant and animal resources from multiple ecological niches without suffering significant resource stress or reduced population levels that may have been encountered in neighbouring regions. Our analyses of botanical, faunal and archaeological remains from a recently-discovered open-air Mesolithic and aceramic Neolithic site also shows an early process of Neolithization in the southern Caspian basin, which was a very gradual, low-cost adaptation to new ways of life, with neither the abandonment of hunting and gathering, nor a climatic trigger event for the emergence of a low-level, food-producing society.

This paper provides a background to Neanderthal presence in Western Mediterranean Europe. Habitual tool-use underpinned human survival in late Early Pleistocene western Mediterranean Europe. By the onset of the early Middle Pleistocene, early humans (descendants of Homo antecessor in all likelihood) were exploiting diverse biotopes, sometimes (perhaps often) attaining primary access to large game, and deploying a variety of stone artifacts and rock types, which implies not only manual dexterity but also technical competence and cognitive versatility. Late Early Pleistocene human behaviour foreshadowed that of Middle Pleistocene pre-Neanderthal humans whose background conceivably had deep regional roots. By the mid-Middle Pleistocene Homo heidelbergensis, some of whose anatomical features herald Neanderthal morphology, was exploiting a wide range of natural resources in western Mediterranean environments, including small game and plants. Neanderthal morphology began to emerge during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene, accompanied by increasing technological diversity and an expanding variety of small tools, conjecturally favoured by hafting, perhaps following development of wooden spears (or other tools) and adhesive and binding technologies, and generation and heat-control of fire (which undoubtedly was necessary for activities inside Bruniquel cave). By the onset of the last interglacial period, Neanderthal morphology and Mousterian artifacts are widespread, and there are indications of coordinated retrieval and treatment of body-parts of large ungulates.

This paper presents a detailed record of volcanism extending back to ∼80 kyr BP for southern South America using the sediments of Laguna Potrok Aike (ICDP expedition 5022; Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project - PASADO). Our analysis of tephra includes the morphology of glass, the mineral componentry, the abundance of glass-shards, lithics and minerals, and the composition of glass-shards in relation to the stratigraphy. Firstly, a reference database of glass compositions of known eruptions in the region was created to enable robust tephra correlations. This includes data published elsewhere, in addition to new glass-shard analyses of proximal tephra deposits from Hudson (eruption units H 1 and H 2 ), Aguilera (A 1 ), Reclus (R 1 , R 2-3 ), Mt Burney (MB 1 , MB 2 , MB x , MB 1910 ) and historical Lautaro/Viedma deposits. The analysis of the ninety-four tephra layers observed in the Laguna Potrok Aike sedimentary sequence reveals that twenty-five tephra deposits in the record are the result of primary fallout and are sourced from at least three different volcanoes in the Austral Andean Volcanic Zone (Mt Burney, Reclus, Lautaro/Viedma) and one in the southernmost Southern Volcanic Zone (Hudson). One new correlation to the widespread H 1 eruption from Hudson volcano at 8.7 (8.6–9.0) cal ka BP during the Quaternary is identified. The identification of sixty-five discrete deposits that were predominantly volcanic ashes (glass and minerals) with subtle characteristics of reworking (in addition to three likely reworked tephra, and one unknown layer) indicates that care must be taken in the analysis of both visible and invisible tephra layers to decipher their emplacement mechanisms.

The Golden Eagle has played a prominent part in the cultures and traditions of people across Eurasia and North America. The Neanderthals have for a long time been considered incapable of systematically catching birds of any description. Recent work has demonstrated that not only were they able to catch birds, they also took diurnal raptors. In this paper we show that Neanderthals selectively took the largest raptors at their disposal within Eurasia. Among these large raptors was the Golden Eagle, the most powerful and dominant of the raptors. Neanderthals and Golden Eagles co-shared the same habitats and landscapes across the Palaearctic region. We show that the long human/Golden Eagle association goes at least as far back as the Neanderthals.

The environmental and climatic evolution of the late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene of the northeastern Italy is determined for Marine Isotope Stage 7 (MIS 7) to MIS 3 on the basis of a study of the small-mammal (insectivore, bat and rodent) assemblages. This paper provides a synthesis of three previously published and one unpublished sets of environmental and climatic data from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic sites of Grotta Maggiore di San Bernardino, Grotta minore di San Bernardino, De Nadale cave and Fumane cave, all of which are located in northeastern Italy. Using the habitat weighting method and the bioclimatic model to reconstruct the environment, temperature and rainfall, the results show great variability in the landscape and climate of the area. However, the various layers from the studied sites in which the human presence is more intense coincide with landscapes dominated by woodland formations in mild climatic conditions. A comparison of our results with those from other sites with studies of small mammals in Greece, Italy, southern France and the Iberian Peninsula reveals the same pattern, showing that the hominins that inhabited the western Mediterranean region in the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene were closely related to forested areas.

This paper presents new field observations that assist in further defining the extent of Last Permafrost Maximum (LPM) permafrost and frozen ground in north China. In that respect, this region is specific by its arid environment and continental position. Bedrock exposures and sand and gravel pits were examined along a south-north transect from southern Ordos as far as the vicinity of Dongsheng District, Ordos City on the Ordos Plateau (North China). Attention focussed upon the recognition of sand-wedge remains and possible cryoturbations. Two types of wedge structures were recognized: type A wedges extend to depths in excess of 3.0 m and are thought to have formed under conditions of continuous permafrost. Type B wedges are restricted to the upper 1.5 m and are thought to reflect discontinuous permafrost and/or deep seasonal frost. OSL dating of wedge infills indicates that type A wedges formed between 23–19 ka and younger type B wedges formed until the early Holocene. It is now possible to delineate a more exact position of the boundary between continuous permafrost and discontinuous permafrost and/or deep seasonal frost on the Ordos Plateau during the LPM. This boundaries occur between Dongsheng and Jinbian at 37°-39°N.

Proglacial lakes can affect the stability of mountain glaciers and can partly disengage glacier behaviour from climatic perturbations. However, their role in controlling the onset and progression of deglaciation from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) remains poorly understood. This lack of understanding is partly because the evidence required to consistently and robustly identify the location and evolution of ice-contact lakes is not standardised. In this paper we therefore firstly present a new set of criteria for identifying the landform and sedimentary evidence that defines and characterises ice-marginal lakes. Secondly, we then apply these key criteria with the aid of high-resolution topographic mapping to produce the first holistic definition and assessment of major proglacial lake landforms and sediments pertaining to the end of the LGM across South Island, New Zealand. The major findings of this assessment can be grouped to include that: (i) The localised constraints to proglacial lake extent were topography, glacier size and meltwater/sediment fluxes, (ii) Lake damming was initiated by outwash fan-heads that interrupted water and sediment flows down-valley, and (iii) New Zealand LGM lakes were unequivocally in contact with a calving ice margin. These findings will be useful for reconstructing ice dynamics and landscape evolution in this region.

The basin of the Uruguay middle river has contributed important advances related to knowledge of the early settlement of southeastern South America. This paper presents recent progress of the research on the Paleoamerican period that is being carried out in the Tigre site (Uruguay), where a cultural component with Fishtail points, bifaces, preforms and other artifacts dated at ∼ 12,800 and 12,200 cal BP was found. The presence of silicified limestone (silcrete) in the Tigre site indicates mobility ranges of 190–350 km to obtain this lithic resource. The data presented here allow to have an accurate discussion of the chronological period occupied by Fishtail groups on the plains of Uruguay; and to recognize the late stages of the Fishtail point manufacturing process used by these human groups, one of the most successful adaptations during the end of the Pleistocene in South America.

Fossil pollen assemblages can assist in understanding biome responses to global climate change if there is reasonable probability that they represent specific biomes or bioregions. In this paper, we introduce a novel probabilistic presentation of pollen data and biome assignment. We apply a recently developed pollen-based vegetation classification method utilizing supervised machine learning to Southern Africa modern pollen assemblages. We present an updated modern pollen dataset from Southern Africa, linking the sites to previously defined vegetation units and, ultimately, we generate probabilistic classification for fossil assemblages to reconstruct past vegetation. The modern pollen dataset (N = 211 sites) represents a long vegetation gradient, from desert to forest biomes, capturing broad climate gradients ranging from arid to subtropical. We validate two models using Random Forest algorithm to classify modern vegetation at different spatial resolutions: subcontinental (biomes) and regional (bioregions). When the modern pollen assemblages (N = 164 sites) are used to predict the vegetation types, the classification models are correct in a number of cases. In our dataset of 164 sites, the classification model correctly classifies pollen assemblages from savanna (91% correct), grassland (87%), and coastal forest (82%) vegetation types, while the best results for classification of regional vegetation are achieved for sub-humid savanna (95%), dry savanna (95%), coastal forest (91%), and wet grassland (90%). We apply the models to a fossil pollen sequence at Wonderkrater in the South African savanna, to reconstruct subcontinental and regional changes in past vegetation states over the last 60 000 years. The most probable vegetation state dominating the region since the Late Pleistocene is sub-humid savanna yet grassland occurred at times associated with high vegetation variability. Within the record, the most frequent and amplified variability in the inferred vegetation states occurred during the transitional phase between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. The machine learning approach for reconstructing past vegetation, offers a more complex and nuanced view of past vegetation dynamics and has the potential to support quantitative proxy-based techniques for palaeoclimatic reconstructions.

The timing, environmental setting and archaeological signatures of an early human presence in northernEurope have been longstanding themes of Palaeolithic research. In the space of 20 years, the earliestrecord of human occupation in Britain has been pushed back from 500 ka (Boxgrove) to 700 ka (Pakefield)and then to >800 ka (Happisburgh Site 3). Other sites also contribute to this record of humanoccupation; a second locality at Happisburgh, referred to as Site 1, attests to human presence at around500 ka (MIS 13). This paper provides the first comprehensive account of research undertaken at HappisburghSite 1 since 2000. The early human landscape and depositional environment was that of a riverfloodplain, where an active river channel, in which a grey sand was deposited, was abandoned, forming afloodplain lake, with marginal marsh/swamp environments, which was infilled with organic mud. Thissuccession is sealed by Middle Pleistocene glacial deposits. An assemblage of 199 flint flakes, flake toolsand cores was recovered from the grey sand and organic mud. The evidence from Happisburgh Site 1 isplaced in the context of the wider British and European MIS 13 record. The growing evidence for asignificant dispersal of humans into northern Europe around 500 ka raises critical questions concerningthe environmental conditions under which this took place. We also consider the evolutionary andbehavioural changes in human populations that might have enabled the more widespread and persistentperiod of human presence in northern Europe at this time.

Fluctuations in glacier mass and volume are indicative of changes in the climate system. They also strongly affect regional climate and hydrology. In this paper, we explore possible relationships between the radial growth of Schrenk spruce (Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey) and the mass balance of the Tsentralniy Tuyuksuyskiy (TS. Tuyuksuyskiy) Glacier, which is located on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in arid central Asia. We attempt to reconstruct the historical mass balance variability of the TS. Tuyuksuyskiy glacier using tree-ring widths and stable carbon isotope chronologies. The reconstruction is able to explain 62.1% of the variance in the annual glacier mass balance record over the 1965–2014 calibration period. We also analyzed centennial mass balance variability and its linkages to climate change. The TS.Tuyuksuyskiy glacier has a negative annual mass balance in most years and, since 1968, has undergone the most rapid and longest melting process in the past 166 years. The mass balance change of the glacier is controlled by the combination of temperature and precipitation conditions. This study could be useful for more detailed glaciological, hydrological, and climatological assessments in this portion of the Tianshan Mountains.

This paper constitutes a review of the last (Otiran) glaciation in New Zealand, spanning marine isotope stages (MIS) 4-2. We highlight the nature of glaciation, which is characterised by exceptional sedimentation, relatively mild maritime climatic conditions and the widespread presence of water associated with proglacial settings. These conditions produce glacial systems characterised by extensive outwash fans and relatively small terminal moraines. Extensive recent geochronological work allows us to recognise at least eight glacial advances during the Otiran. These occurred at 65 ± 3.25ka, 47.5 ± 3 ka, 38.5 ± 2 ka, 31.5 ± 3 ka, 26.5 ± 2 ka, 20.5 ± 2 ka, 17 ± 2 ka and 13 ± 1 ka, which we term the Otira 1 to 8 advances, respectively. Though the analytical uncertainty ranges for some of these advances overlap, all are independently distinguished through moraine morphologic relationships and/or stratigraphic relationships in outcrop. Major advances appear to be associated with climate influences such as periods of Southern Hemisphere insolation minima (65ka, and 31.5 ka advances), the last glacial maximum cooling (LGM) (20.5 ka) and periods of Antarctic cooling (13ka). The timing of greatest glacial extent in the last glacial cycle is not simultaneous across New Zealand. The MIS 4 advance was the greatest in the southern South Island, while the MIS 3/2 advances (26.5 ka) were greatest in the central South Island. In the northern South Island and the North Island, MIS 4, MIS 3/2, and the last glacial maximum appear to be equivalent in extent. We attribute these spatio-temporal variations in the timing of maximum glaciation to precipitation changes related to a northward shift in the track of the westerlies.

Highlights • Increased glacial sedimentation rates do not generate sufficient overpressure to trigger a landslide. • Simulated overpressures for different sedimentation scenarios do not significantly differ. • A glacimarine layer underneath rapidly-deposited sediments is important for overpressure build-up. • An earthquake of M6.9 or larger at a short distance from the Tampen Slide headwall could have triggered the Tampen Slide. Abstract Trough mouth fans are environments characterized by high sediment supply during glacial stages and the occurrence of large-scale instabilities. The geological record indicates that several of these environments have failed repeatedly resulting in large submarine landslides. The roles of sedimentation rate, weak layers, glacial loading and unloading as well as seismic activity on triggering megaslides in trough-mouth-fan systems is still unclear. A better understanding of the preconditioning factors, triggers and consequences of these landslides is crucial due to the hazard they pose to coastal communities and offshore industries. In this paper, we focus on the North Sea Trough Mouth Fan, which is the result of massive glacial sediment input delivered to the shelf edge through the Norwegian Channel, southeast Nordic Seas margin. The Tampen Slide, one of several large paleo-landslides that have happened within the North Sea Trough Mouth Fan, took place at c. 130 ka (end of MIS 6), and removed an estimated 1800 km3 of sediment. Here, we use boundary conditions from the Tampen Slide and 2D Finite Element Modeling (Abaqus software from Simulia) to evaluate the effects of variations in sedimentation rates as well as sediment properties on the generation of excess pore pressure, fluid flow, and slope stability along the axis of the trough-mouth-fan system. The model domain, 40 km in length and 2 km in height, is dominated by glacigenic debris flows and glacimarine sediment deposits. We use geotechnical data measured on samples of glacigenic and glacimarine sediment deposits from the nearby Ormen Lange gas field area to constrain the model. We evaluate the stability of the slope under various scenarios, including constant sediment loading, episodic changes in sedimentation rates and abrupt pulses in sediment delivery for a 61 kyr period (MIS 6). The models show that increased sedimentation rates during glacial stages do not generate sufficient excess pore pressure to set off a landslide. Furthermore, the simulated overpressures for the different sedimentation scenarios do not significantly differ at the end of the model runs. The results also highlight the importance of a basal glacimarine sediment layer underneath the rapidly-deposited sediments for the build-up of overpressure. Consequently, this glacimarine sediment layer has the inherited potential to act as a weak layer facilitating instability. However, as overpressure due to sediment deposition alone does not result in slope failure, we couple the preconditioned slope with earthquake ground shaking. Based on attenuation models, an earthquake of approximately M6.9 or larger at a short distance from the Tampen Slide headwall could have triggered the landslide. Therefore, we suggest glacial sedimentation and a glacimarine sediment layer to represent preconditioning factors, and seismic shaking as the final trigger mechanism for the Tampen Slide, i.e. similar to the situation that lead to the development of the Storegga Slide in the same area.

The spread of early herders across Africa is a pivotal event in prehistory, but the context of this event remains poorly understood due to a lack of paleoenvironmental data. We present new radiocarbon dates and multi-proxy Holocene paleoecological records for two distinct settings on the pathways through which livestock herding spread across eastern Africa: the Lake Turkana Basin, which has the earliest record of livestock in eastern Africa, and the Lake Victoria Basin, located farther south. Herbivore diet as inferred from tooth enamel carbon isotopes (n = 368), and pollen and leaf wax biomarker data, do not support a uniform ecological response to increased aridity at the end of the African Humid Period ∼5 kya, as had been previously thought. Rather, climate change had basin-specific ecological effects, and these in turn met differing human responses. Rather than extrapolating local ecological effects from regional climate records, archaeologists require basin-specific paleoecological data, deeply integrated with archaeological findings. This paper provides such integration for the first time in eastern Africa. Our results highlight the climatologically and ecologically distinctive areas around lake margins, necessitating future paleoenvironmental and archaeological research in inland areas.

The long-term cooling or warming trend is one of the most important aspects of Holocene paleoclimatic research. However, there are currently significant discrepancies among climatic simulation results, sedimentary and synthesized Holocene temperature records. These discrepancies call for new Holocene temperature records with a robust chronology and unambiguous indicative significance. Here, we present a ca. 45-year-resolution alpine peat α-cellulose carbon isotopic (δ13C) record from the Altai Mountains in central Asia. The chronology of the record has been well-constrained by 22 AMS 14C dates of the peat α-cellulose samples. Based on detailed modern-process study results, the indicative significance of the record has been carefully determined as summer temperature indicator. The record reveals an overall trend of increasing summer temperature for the past ca. 11 ka with a warmer early (from ca. 8–6 ka BP) and late (from ca. 4–0 ka BP) Holocene and colder middle Holocene (from ca. 6–4 ka BP). The general pattern of a warmer early and late Holocene and colder middle Holocene is consistent with previously reported temperature records from central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau, and North China. The long-term warming trend in our summer temperature record is consistent with recently reported winter temperature records from high latitudes of continental Eurasia. All these results further support the reliability of our summer temperature record from central Asia. The better understandings about the Holocene temperature history and its possible driven mechanism(s) can be benefited potentially from more reliable Holocene temperature records, including our record reported in this paper.

Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) covers an area of 1.7 million km2. It has been an important source of climate information and the air temperature history of Greenland is well known. However, the thermal history and temperature conditions of the Greenland bedrock are poorly known. There are only few records on the temperature of the proglacial bedrock and no records on bedrock temperature underneath the ice sheet. The Greenland Analogue Project (GAP) recently investigated hydrological, hydrogeological and geochemical processes in Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland. Because permafrost has a major hydrological impact in Arctic regions, the cryogenic structure of the bedrock was an important research topic. From previous studies it was already known that Kangerlussuaq is located within the zone of continuous permafrost. Temperature profiling in a new research borehole, extending horizontally 30 m underneath the ice sheet, revealed that permafrost is 350 m deep at the ice margin. This result raised the question how far the permafrost extends under the ice sheet? In order to investigate the thermal properties, we made a series of electromagnetic (EM) soundings at the ice margin area – on proglacial area and on the ice sheet – and detected, that subglacial permafrost extends at least 2 km from the ice margin to inland. We also observed a patchy unfrozen sediment layer between the ice and the frozen bedrock. Possible existence of subglacial sediments and their role in ice dynamics has been debated in many recent papers. Our successful campaign shows that geophysics can be used for bedrock investigations through thick ice, which is known to be challenging for electromagnetic methods. Our results provide the first direct evidence supporting the proposed Holocene ice re-advance over frozen ground, and contribute to the discussion on the rapid climate changes in past, to the future of the ice sheet under warming climate and hydrogeology at the ice margin.

During the Late Glacial, hunter-gatherers began using ceramic cooking containers in three separate geographic regions of East Asia: China, Japan and in the Russian Far East. While recent research has clarified the use of early pottery in Japan, very little is known about what led to the emergence of pottery in the other two areas, including the likely environmental, economic or cultural drivers. In this paper we focus on a series of key sites along the Amur River in the Russian Far East, where early pottery has been recovered from securely-dated contexts that span ca. 16,200 to 10,200 years ago (cal BP). Interpreting how these ceramic vessels were used has been difficult because the region’s acidic soils make palaeo-economic reconstructions challenging. To address this gap in knowledge we undertook lipid residue analysis of 28 pot sherds from the sites of Khummi, Gasya, and Goncharka 1 on the Lower Amur River, and the Gromatukha site on the Middle Amur. Our results indicate that pottery was employed to process aquatic oils at sites on the Lower Amur, a pattern of use that aligns closely with studies conducted in Japan, and suggests that fishing – probably of salmonids and freshwater fish – was becoming increasingly important during this period. In contrast, the results from the Middle Amur show a significant contribution of lipids from ruminant animals, indicating that these vessels were being used in different ways. Interestingly, these regional differences in pottery use also map onto contrasting manufacturing techniques, with vessels from the Middle and from the Lower Amur forming distinct pottery-making traditions. These combined insights appear to indicate a greater degree of variability in the development and use of early pottery in East Asia than has hitherto been indicated.

The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains are southern Africa's highest and lie at a crucial interface between the sub-continent's drier, colder, more seasonal interior and its perennially productive sub-tropical coastal belt. Their location, high elevation, and topography make them ideal for exploring human responses to late Quaternary climatic change. This paper reviews and synthesizes palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental data from the Maloti-Drakensberg region over the past 50,000 years. It then employs 325 calibrated radiocarbon dates to examine human occupational trends across the region and its component parts, discuss human-environment dynamics over this time-span, and explore patterning between particular phases of climatic change and the timing, mode, and motives of its exploitation by people. Key findings are that the region's Lesotho core may have served as a refugium for human populations during drier, more unstable climatic periods and that intensified exploitation of freshwater fish likely helped address resource stress in cooler ones. An agenda for future palaeoenvironmental and archaeological research is also mapped out.

The Dampier Archipelago (including the Burrup Peninsula), now generally known as Murujuga, is a significant rock art province in north-western Australia which documents the transition of an arid-maritime cultural landscape through time. This archipelago of 42 islands has only existed since the mid-Holocene, when the sea level rose to its current height. Previous excavations across Murujuga have demonstrated Holocene occupation sequences, but the highly weathered rock art depicting extinct fauna and early styles suggests a far greater age for occupation and rock art production. The archaeological record from the Pilbara and Carnarvon bioregions demonstrates human occupation through 50,000 years of environmental change. While the regional prehistory and engraved art suggests that people were producing art here since they first occupied these arid rocky slopes, no clear evidence of Pleistocene occupation has been found across Murujuga, until now. Murujuga Rockshelter (MR1) reveals that occupation of this shelter began late in the Last Glacial Maximum, when the Murujuga Ranges would likely have served as one of a network of Pilbara refugia. In the terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene, and likely in tandem with the last stages of sea level rise, the proportion of artefacts manufactured on exotic lithologies declines sharply, revealing a changed foraging range and increasing territorial focus in this period of increased demographic packing as the coastline advanced. Abandonment of the site as early as 7000 years ago is indicated, suggesting a changing resource focus to the increasingly proximal coastline. This paper provides the first evidence of how Aboriginal people adapted their Pleistocene procurement strategies in response to significant environmental and landscape changes in Murujuga. This changing logistical strategy provides an explanation for the increased rock art production in the terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene.

The pattern of the varying climatic conditions in southern Europe over the last million years is well known from isotope studies on deep-ocean sediment cores and the long pollen records that have been produced for lacustrine and marine sedimentary sequences from Greece, Italy and the Iberian margin. However, although relative glacial and interglacial intensities are well studied, there are still few proxies that permit quantitative terrestrial temperature and precipitation reconstruction. In this context, fauna-based climate reconstructions based on evidence preserved in archaeological or palaeontological sites are of great interest, even if they only document short windows of that climate variability, because (a) they provide a range of temperature and precipitation estimates that are understandable in comparison with present climate; (b) they may allow the testing of predicted temperature changes under scenarios of future climate change; and (c) quantitative temperature and precipitation estimates for past glacials and interglacials for specific regions/latitudes can help to understand their effects on flora, fauna and hominids, as they are directly associated with those cultural and/or biological events. Moreover such reconstructions can bring further arguments to the discussion about important climatic events like the Mid-Bruhnes Event, a climatic transition between moderate warmths and greater warmths during interglacials. In this paper we review a decade of amphibian- and reptile-based climate reconstructions carried out for the Iberian Peninsula using the Mutual Ecogeographic Range method in order to present a regional synthesis from MIS 22 to MIS 6, discuss the climate pattern in relation to the Mid-Bruhnes Event and the thermal amplitude suggested by these estimates and finally to identify the chronological gaps that have still to be investigated.

The Lower Palaeolithic hominin occupation of northwest Europe occurred during a period of significant climatic change. In Britain, hominin populations were present discontinuously, from strongly continental sites to those characterised by a balmy Mediterranean environment. Whilst apparently able to survive a range of conditions, the configuration of the associated landscapes, in particular the presence or absence of a land connection with the continent, would have had a fundamental impact on the density of hominin occupation in Britain at any given time. Similarly, the environments once present in the now-drowned North Sea Basin and Channel regions would presumably have played an important role in attracting and sustaining hominin populations. However, our understanding of the physical and environmental character of these landscapes, as well as the timing of marine transgressive and regressive periods, remains frustratingly murky, hindering the ability to imagine how these landscapes may have been used. A growing body of data from recent research and commercial offshore development is beginning to help researchers understand this issue, but there is still an immense amount of work to do. With the contribution that evidence from these lost landscapes could provide to Lower Palaeolithic archaeology as a focus, this paper begins with a review of the current state of affairs with regard to commercial and research methods and practices. It then discusses the ways that we are moving this forward through specific archaeological projects, providing tentative suggestions for how current methods could be developed and the kinds of information that these could provide.

The climatic event between 4.2 and 3.9 ka BP known as the “4.2 ka event” is commonly considered to be a synchronous global drought that happened as one pulse. However, careful comparison of records from around the world shows that synchrony is possible only if the published chronologies of the various records are shifted to the extent allowed by the uncertainties of their age data, that several records suggest a two-pulsed event, and that some records suggest a wet rather than dry event. The radiometric ages constraining those records have uncertainties of several decades if not hundreds of years, and in some records the event is represented by only one or two analyses. This paper reports a new record from Stalagmite DP1 from northeastern Namibia in which high 230Th/232Th activity ratios allow small age uncertainties ranging between only 10–28 years, and the event is documented by more than 35 isotopic analyses and by petrographic observation of a surface of dissolution. The ages from Stalagmite DP1 combine with results from 11 other records from around the world to suggest an event centered at about 4.07 ka BP with bracketing ages of 4.15 to 3.93 ka BP. The isotopic and petrographic results suggest a two-pulsed wet event in northeastern Namibia, which is in the Southern Hemisphere's summer rainfall zone where more rain presumably fell with southward migration of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone as the result of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. Comparison with other records from outside the region of dryness from the Mediterranean to eastern Asia suggests that multiple climatic zones similarly moved southward during the event, in some cases bringing wetter conditions that contradict the notion of global drought.

Sea-level indicators dated to the Last Interglacial, or Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e, have a twofold value. First, they can be used to constrain the melting of Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets in response to global warming scenarios. Second, they can be used to calculate the vertical crustal rates at active margins. For both applications, the contribution of glacio- and hydro-isostatic adjustment (GIA) to vertical displacement of sea-level indicators must be calculated. In this paper, we re-assess MIS 5e sea-level indicators at 11 Mediterranean sites that have been generally considered tectonically stable or affected by mild tectonics. These are found within a range of elevations of 2–10 m above modern mean sea level. Four sites are characterized by two separate sea-level stands, which suggest a two-step sea-level highstand during MIS 5e. Comparing field data with numerical modeling we show that (i) GIA is an important contributor to the spatial and temporal variability of the sea-level highstand during MIS 5e, (ii) the isostatic imbalance from the melting of the MIS 6 ice sheet can produce a >2.0 m sea-level highstand, and (iii) a two-step melting phase for the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets reduces the differences between observations and predictions. Our results show that assumptions of tectonic stability on the basis of the MIS 5e records carry intrinsically large uncertainties, stemming either from uncertainties in field data and GIA models. The latter are propagated to either Holocene or Pleistocene sea-level reconstructions if tectonic rates are considered linear through time.

Recent meta-analyses of Upper Paleolithic Southwestern European archaeofaunas (Jones, 2015, 2016) have identified a consistent “Mediterranean” cluster from the Last Glacial Maximum through the early Holocene, suggesting similarities in environment and/or consistency in hunting strategy across this region through time despite radical changes in climate. However, while these archaeofaunas from this cluster all derive from sites located within today's Mediterranean bioclimatic region, many of them are from locations far from the Mediterranean Sea – Atlantic Portugal, the Spanish Meseta – which today differ significantly from each other in biotic composition. In this paper, I explore clustering (through cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling) within the Mediterranean archaeofaunal group. I test for the influence of sample size as well as the geographic variables of site elevation, latitude, and longitude on variability in the large mammal portions of archaeofaunal assemblages. ANOVA shows no relationship between cluster-defined groups and site elevation or longitude; instead, site latitude appears to be a primary contributor to patterning. However, the overall compositional similarity of the Mediterranean archaeofaunas in this dataset suggests more consistency than variability in Upper Paleolithic hunting strategy in this region.

The end of the Pleistocene is characterized by a succession of climatic oscillations from the onset of MIS 2. These oscillations were associated with important environmental transformations that culminated in the Pleistocene to the Holocene transition, with latter climate amelioration. However, the changes during this period are not only restricted to the environment, as important cultural transformations took place. The cultural traditions characteristics from the end of the Upper Paleolithic disappear with the emergence of the traits characteristic of the Mesolithic culture. This is clearly attested in the well-known lithic record, but also in other domains of material culture, like bone industry and art. Nevertheless, the extent to which these cultural and environmental transformations were associated with changes in subsistence strategies remains unclear, at least at the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula. Apparently, the exploitation of faunal resources during the Mesolithic does not seem to change so much with respect to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, especially concerning the consumption of small prey. The main goal of this paper is (1) to analyze how environmental transformations could or could not intervene on the modes of life of Prehistoric populations during these transitional periods, and (2) to discuss the apparent dichotomy between cultural changes and subsistence strategies at the end of the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic in northeastern Iberia. In that sense, we will include the case of the Moli del Salt site (Catalonia, Spain) as an example to explain these trends. This site has an archaeological sequence from the Upper Magdalenian to the Mesolithic, which makes it a reference place to comprehend the dynamics of human populations during this period.

This paper presents an interdisciplinary study of the Miscanti-1 archaeological site, located in the Holocene terrace deposits accumulated on the eastern margin of Miscanti Lake (4120 m.a.s.l.), northern Chile (23.7° S, 67.7° W). The human response to environmental and climatic variability in the Mid-Holocene (9500-4500 cal yr BP) is discussed through the zooarchaeological, lithic and paleoenvironmental records. We propose that, due to the increased aridity of the period, Miscanti Lake became a brackish paleowetland that attracted discrete groups of hunter-gatherers from lower elevation Andean areas. In contrast with the high frequency of human occupations known for the humid Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene (12600-9500 yr cal BP), the Miscanti-1 site is one of the few occupations recorded in the Atacama Highlands during the Mid-Holocene period. Data analysis suggests logistic and short-term campsite use for hunting the wild camelids that were attracted by the wetlands and fresh water (8100–8300 yr cal BP). In contrast to previous proposals for this period, we propose that access to high altitude environments did not cease, but was made possible by a shift to highly scheduled mobility and a specialized bifacial technology. Finally, the temporal and spatial links of Miscanti-1 are discussed in a regional context.

The paper presents a comprehensive review on lake-level history of Qinghai Lake since marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, after re-examining the sedimentary and geomorphological nature of highstand deposits and re-evaluating the published dating results (318 luminescence ages and 17 14C ages) of shorelines, near shoreline, lacustrine, alluvial, and aeolian deposits. It is concluded that 1) Three lake shoreline sets were classified in the Qinghai Lake Basin with the corresponding elevations of 3220–3260, 3206–3215 and 3194–3205 m. 2) 14C dating on lake sediments is restricted by the upper dating limit of ∼35 thousand years (ka) BP in practice, availability of dating materials and reservoir effect, and that quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages older than 80–60 ka may be underestimated while feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) ages could be reliable for dating these older samples. 3) Four highstands were detected by ages. The highest lake-levels at elevations of 3220–3260 m with 26–66 m above the present lake-level occurred in MIS 5, and highstands also occurred in MIS 3 (∼42–38 ka), the last deglaciation (∼16–12 ka), and the Holocene (∼6–5 ka) with similar heights at elevations of ∼3200–3209 m. During the Holocene, lake-levels were relatively low in the early Holocene (∼11–8 ka), increasing substantially after ∼8 ka and reaching the highest lake-levels (elevation of 3203.1 m) at ∼6–5 ka, then decreasing with an interruption by a highstand (elevation of 3202.4 m) at ∼1.8 ka. 4) Shoreline-based lake-level variations are consistent with major climatic proxies (e.g., δ13Corg and %thaum) of drilling cores from the lake, regional aeolian activity/pedogenesis and climate change. 5) Compared with the representative lake-levels and moisture records in the Westerlies and East Asia summer monsoon (EASM) dominances, it is suggested that lake-level variations in the southern Qilian Mountains exhibited simultaneity with changes in the intensity of EASM, while those in the northern part were synchronous with the moisture records in arid central Asia, suggesting that EASM did not extend further to the northern Qilian Mountains where the Westerlies prevailed.

This paper describes differences between Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and present-day temperatures in the area composed of the Antarctic Peninsula, southern Patagonia, and the surrounding southern oceans. The investigation is conducted with the simulation results from the Community Earth System Model Last Millennium Ensemble (CESM-LME) considering the impact of each natural (volcanic activity and solar variability) and anthropogenic (greenhouse gas, ozone-aerosols and land use/land cover) individual forcing relative to the full forced simulations. Model results show generalized warming during the MCA in the study area. However, the simulated MCA temperatures are significantly colder than present-day mean values due to the influence of increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations since the beginning of the modern Industrial Era in the ∼1850s. In fact, model runs in which only natural forcings were applied show that, in the absence of greenhouse gas forcing, present-day temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula and southern Patagonia would be lower than or similar to those during the MCA. The study demonstrates the value of paleoclimate proxy–model comparisons but also highlights the limitations of current available proxy information to perform that integration in the study area.

The goal of this paper is to refine the relative and absolute chronology of Epigravettian culture (26.5-15.0 ka) in eastern Central Europe (ECE) and clarify its relation to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent climatic changes. Epigravettian sites were sorted into three chronological clusters: initial LGM (ILGM) (26.5-24.0 ka), local LGM (LLGM) (24.0-20.0 ka), and post-LGM (PLGM) (20.0-14.7 ka). We obtained new radiocarbon dates from previously dated and undated sites, then analysed the lithic tool typology and faunal data to seek correlations between age and archaeological features.The lithic typology study did not find differences between ILGM and LLGM sites, but the tool type variance between LLGM and PLGM was significant, applicable for relative chronology. ILGM and LLGM lithic assemblages were characterized by domestic tool dominance and the frequent use of flake tools. PLGM assemblages were correlated with armature dominance and blade/let tools. Among the armatures, backed point variants characterized the PLGM sites compared to the ILGM and LLGM. The sole ILGM lithic armature was the retouched blade/let point. The LLGM also possessed this type and often included backed blade/lets.ILGM faunal data, although few, implied the hunting of mammoth and reindeer. The LLGM data represented recurring hunting of reindeer and horse, and PLGM data indicated the hunting of horse, reindeer, and mammoth.Our results suggested that the territory of Poland was deserted by humans in the LLGM. Moravia and Lower Austria was inhabited until the first half of the LLGM, while the Carpathian Basin was all along the ILGM. The preference for the Carpathian Basin could have been the milder climate, the abundance of fauna, and permanent access to tree vegetation. After the LGM the glacial flora and fauna gradually disappeared, leading to a reduced human presence in southern ECE. Thus, the disappearance of the Epigravettian culture and Pleistocene hunter-gatherer occupations are linked to the amelioration of climate that resulted in the disappearance of the Pleistocene environment. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

International audience; The Bytham River was one of the major pre-Anglian (MIS 12) rivers of eastern England. Flowing from the Midlands to the East Anglian coast, it has been recognised at numerous sites by its distinctive lithological suite, containing significant quantities of quartzite, quartz and Carboniferous chert that originate from central England. In the Breckland of Suffolk and Norfolk, deposits of the Bytham River can be identified at 26 sites by this distinctive clast lithological composition. These sediments, referred to as the Ingham Formation, consist of a series of sand and gravel aggradations, which due to their differences in elevation can be interpreted as at least four early Middle Pleistocene terrace remnants of the former river, and a final phase of deposition along the river valley prior to its destruction. This paper reports on recent fieldwork at six of these sites, which through stratigraphic and lithological analyses, together with new Electron Spin Resonance age estimates, contribute to a revised geological framework for the Bytham River as represented in the Breckland. These sites can be attributed to the four lowest fluvial aggradations, with the lowest and youngest of these aggradations shown to be early Anglian in age. The river was subsequently overrun by Anglian ice during Marine Isotope Stage 12. This revised geological and chronological interpretation provides an important framework for understanding the Lower Palaeolithic artefacts that have been found within these gravel aggradations, and contributes to the understanding of the human occupation of north-west Europe during the early Middle Pleistocene.

Outburst floods originating in moraine-dammed lakes represent a significant geomorphological process as well as a specific type of threat for local communities in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru (8.5°–10° S; 77°–78° W). An exceptional concentration of catastrophic floods has been reported from the Cordillera Blanca in the first half of 20th Century (1930s–1950s), leading to thousands of fatalities. The main objective of this paper is to provide a revised and comprehensive overview of geomorphologically effective floods in the area of interest, using various documentary data sources, verified by analysis of remotely sensed images (1948–2013) and enhanced by original field data. Verified events (n = 28; 4 not mentioned before) are analysed from the perspective of spatiotemporal distribution, pre-flood conditions, causes, mechanisms and geomorphological impacts as well as socioeconomical consequences, revealing certain patterns and similar features. GLOFs are further classified according to their magnitude: 5 extreme events, 8 major events and 15 minor events are distinguished, referring to the quantified geomorphological and socioeconomical impacts. Selected moraine dams and flood deposits are dated using lichenometric dating. Special attention is given to moraine dam breaches - the most frequent type of water release with the most significant consequences. Selected major events and their consequences are studied in detail in a separate section. Finally, a general schematic model of lake formation, growth and post-flood evolution reflecting initial topographical setting and glacier retreat is introduced and the utilization of the obtained results is outlined.

Glaciolacustrine varves offer the potential to construct continuous, annually-resolved chronologies for ice-sheet deglaciation, and improved understanding of glacier retreat dynamics. This paper investigates laminated glaciolacustrine sediments deposited around the waning margins of the Patagonian Ice Sheet, following the local Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Detailed macro- and microfacies analyses confirm an annual (varve) structure within these sediments. The correlation of annual layers (varves) across five sites in eastern Lago Buenos Aires yields a 994 ± 36 varve-year (vyr) chronology and thickness record. The floating chronology has been anchored to the calendar-year timescale through identification of the Ho tephra (17,378 ± 118 cal a BP) in the varve sequences. Using a Bayesian age model to integrate the new varve chronology with published moraine ages, the onset of deglaciation at 46.5°S is dated to 18,086 ± 214 cal a BP. New age estimates for deglacial events are combined with high-resolution analysis of varve thickness trends, and new lithostratigraphic data on ice-margin position(s), to reconstruct ice-margin retreat rates for the earliest ca. 1000 years of ice-sheet demise. Glacier retreat rates were moderate (5.3–10.3 m yr−1) until 17,322 ± 115 cal a BP, but subsequently accelerated (15.4–18.0 m yr−1). Sustained influxes of ice-rafted debris (IRD) after 17,145 ± 122 cal a BP suggest retreat rates were enhanced by calving after ice contracted into deeper lake waters. Ice persisted in eastern Lago Buenos Aires until at least 16,934 ± 116 cal a BP, after which the glacier started to retreat towards the Patagonian mountains.

In the eastern Iberian Peninsula, the archaeological site of Cuesta de la Bajada (Teruel, Spain) has produced some of the earliest evidence of Middle Paleolithic stone tool traditions together with evidence of equid and cervid carcasses defleshed by hominins. Based on the numerical age of 317-240 ka derived from OSL, ESR and AAR dating methods for the lower part of the Cuesta de la Bajada sedimentological sequence (level CB3), as well as the biochronological inferences for the small and large mammal associations, the site can be attributed to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8 or the end of MIS 9. As amphibians and reptiles have precise environmental and climatic requirements and do not differ at species level from the extant herpetofauna of the Iberian Peninsula, they can contribute to the reconstruction of the landscape and climate. In this paper, the fossil amphibians and squamate reptiles from Cuesta de la Bajada are studied for the first time. The mutual ecogeographic range and habitat weighting methods were applied to the herpetofaunal assemblages to estimate quantitative data for the landscape and climate reconstructions. The climate is shown to have been colder and wetter than today in the interior of eastern Spain, with mean annual temperature up to 2.5 °C lower and mean annual precipitation slightly higher than at present. The monthly climatic reconstruction shows differences in the distribution of precipitation over the course of the year, with more abundant precipitation from late autumn to spring (i.e. from October to May), and more or less similar precipitation to today during the summer months (July and August). This suggests there was stronger rainfall seasonality between winter and summer than currently occurs. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on the herpetofaunal assemblage depicts a poorly forested (15–20%) patchy landscape with a large representation of dry meadows and scrubland habitats together with well-evidenced aquatic habitats. These reconstructions are consistent with other proxies recovered at Cuesta de la Bajada (pollen, small and large mammals) as well as other European MIS 8–9 paleoclimatic records. We can thus correlate levels CB2 and CB3 with the later part of MIS 8 (265-257 ka) or with a humid fluctuation within the MIS9b (303-290 ka). It is also possible to provide a new description of the environmental and climatic conditions that occurred in inner Spain during a cold period of the late Middle Pleistocene.

The behavior of siliciclastic coastal systems is largely controlled by the interplay between accommodation creation and infilling. Factors responsible for altering sediment fluxes to and along open-ocean coasts include cross-shore mobilization of sediment primarily from tidal currents and storms as well as changes in alongshore transport rates moderated by changing wave conditions, river sediment inputs, artificial shoreline hardening and modification, and natural sediment trapping in updrift coastal landforms. This paper focuses on the latter relationships. To address understudied interactions between updrift coastal landforms and downdrift coastal behavior, we quantify the volume and fluxes of sediment trapped in the Assateague-Chincoteague-Wallops barrier-island complex along the Virginia, USA coast and relate these volumes to downdrift coastal-system behavior. During the last ca. 2250 years, these barriers trapped 216 million m3 of sand through the growth of complex beach- and foredune-ridge systems. A period (ca. 400 to 190 years ago) of reduced/no progradation on Chincoteague and Assateague islands corresponds with sediment sequestration in updrift flood-tidal deltas. This finding emphasizes the important control of tidal inlets on alongshore sediment fluxes on barrier-island coasts. Rapid historical spit elongation during the last 190 years has trapped an average of 681,000 m3 yr−1 of sand; this occurred coincident with downdrift barrier-island erosion/migration at long-term rates of >3 m yr−1. Historical sand fluxes to the elongating spit on southern Assateague Island and progradational beach ridges on northernmost Wallops Islands are equivalent to at least 60% of estimated regional longshore transport rates. We therefore propose that sediment trapping and associated wave refraction are the primary drivers of downdrift barrier erosion, while storminess and sea-level rise are secondary forcings of change affecting equally the entire barrier-island chain. Global context is provided by a compilation of sediment trapping through growth of similar longshore sand sinks, which indicates the volume of sediment incorporated into the elongating spit end of Assateague Island is similar to sandy beach- and foredune-ridge plains (108 m3), but average annual trapping at the spit is at least six times greater than those at most mainland-attached, progradational systems. However, Chincoteague and Wallops, two progradational barrier islands, incorporate sand at rates broadly similar to large strandplains. Our findings emphasize the need to account for natural longshore sediment trapping in multi-decadal coastal management efforts on sandy, siliciclastic coasts.

The Kola Peninsula and Russian Lapland (Murmansk Oblast, northwest Arctic Russia) represents a major sector of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS) where empirical geomorphological, sedimentological, and chronological data are lacking and thus, where the pattern, style, and timing of glaciation is not well established. In this study, we present a critical review of published empirical data and interpretations of Late Weichselian (c. 40–10 ka) glaciation for the region. The review includes, for the first time, information published in Russian-language journal articles (n = 37), and is accompanied by a new Geographic Information System (GIS) numerical age database (spanning 472.3–6.2 ka) that collates known published numerical dates associated with the advance and retreat of the FIS in the study area. Our review suggests that an ice mass existed over the Kola Peninsula and Russian Lapland during the Early-Middle Weichselian (c. 115–40 ka), and likely retreated during the Alesund interstadial (c. 38–34 ka). During the Late Weichselian, it is likely that the FIS advanced eastwards across Russian Lapland and the Kola Peninsula, establishing the White Sea Ice Stream before the local-Last Glacial Maximum (c. 19–15 ka). Through an evaluation of the existing Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (c. 20–10 ka) glaciation models for the region, we propose that the Kola Peninsula and Russian Lapland was deglaciated by the FIS, rather than the Ponoy Ice Cap or the Kara Sea Ice Sheet. In collating, discussing, and critically evaluating empirical data and interpretations, this paper provides a valuable resource to inform FIS dynamics at both a regional- and ice sheet-scale, and offers a framework through which numerical ice sheet models can be constrained. Precise FIS dynamics on the Kola Peninsula and Russian Lapland, including the position of the Younger Dryas ice marginal zone, remain unclear due to low-resolution geomorphological data. In concluding, we recommend that further work is needed in the form of a revised glacial reconstruction using high-resolution, peninsula-wide geomorphological data.

Central Alaska and Yukon represent the longest continuously inhabited region in the Americas, with a rich record of research on technology, subsistence, and decision-making spanning over 14,000 years. Still, archaeologists debate whether the changes observed in the material and paleodemographic record can be interpreted as the result of environmental influences. This paper presents a multivariate analysis of regional occupation chronology, paleodemography, site placement, and climate data to investigate how past populations were affected by climate change. This research shows that populations were larger than expected at some of the earliest periods and that significant climatic and environmental events do not correspond with significant population decreases as researchers have previously argued. Changes in land use were gradual and unidirectional, with decreases in average site slope, increases in average site size, and consistent average site elevation through time. Trends in land use and paleodemography correspond to cultural phases assigned by regional experts, though environmental shifts undoubtedly played a role in shaping land use and culture throughout the past. This research has possible implications for our understanding of important cultural moments in the region's history, such as initial and subsequent migrations throughout the Americas.

Here, we respond to the comments of Y. Kuzmin on the conclusions of our investigations at the multi-layered Ushki V site, central Kamchatka, published in the paper of I. Yu. Ponkratova and others (QSR, 2021). The critical opinion of the site chronology as well as the final Pleistocene-Holocene cultural sequence classification and the provenience of the most ancient pottery on the peninsula we find unsubstantiated and provide the supporting arguments.

Probably, one of the biggest questions about the Acheulean is focused on the functional aspects of its lithic industry and, more specifically, its link to subsistence activities developed by hominins during the Early Stone Age. Historically, tecno-functional research on ESA techno-complex has focused on the role played by flakes and LCT in the processing of animal carcasses, but less attention has been payed to other possible activities related with subsistence and tool making. Previous traceological studies on African Lower Paleolithic lithic industries have shown the complexity of activities made with the earliest lithic tools, including not only the processing of animal carcasses, but also activities dedicated to processing wood, non-woody plants and underground storage organs (USOs). In this paper we present the use-wear results obtained from the analysis of the Early Acheulean lithic tools with potentially functional edges which are part of the lithic assemblage from the Thiongo Korongo archaeological site (TK) (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). The three main levels of the archaeological site, TKSF, TKLSC and TKLF, have been used as samples. From 466 lithic artefacts analyzed, 16 pieces present sufficient preservation of use related traces that are able to clearly identify the activities developed when compared with experimental reference collections. As a result, we have identified activities mainly related with the cutting and scraping of wood and non-woody plants, including USOs. In addition, some pieces have also presented traces indicating the processing of animal carcasses. These data provides important information about different activities developed in TK by early hominids, allowing us to make broader inferences about the different subsistence activities carried out during the Acheulean in Eastern Africa.

The Late Upper Palaeolithic of Europe, particularly the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM: 26-19 kyr cal BP), was a time of dramatic climatic changes. Fauna, and the humans that preyed on them, were forced to adapt their behaviours in response to climate changes to survive. The Cantabrian Region of northern Spain was continuously inhabited during this period when many other areas of Europe were inhospitable. The site of Las Caldas (Asturias) was repeatedly occupied by hunter-gatherers during the Solutrean (26.1–20.3 kyr cal BP) and Magdalenian (18.5–14.3 kyr cal BP). This paper uses δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analysis of red deer (Cervus elaphus) and Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica) remains to reconstruct past environments, ungulate niches and habitats, and to understand how this impacted on their availability as a prey source. Results show that during the Solutrean, cold and potentially wet LGM conditions were experienced and ibex lived in lower altitudes, likely due to reduced vegetation, and even small glaciers on the higher mountain slopes. Improved environmental conditions in the Magdalenian allowed ibex to live in their preferred habitat of higher altitudes. Ameliorated Late Glacial conditions correspond with changing economic hunting strategies at the site. Humans exploited wider ecological zones, over larger distances, which coincides with population growth, and greater connectivity across the Cantabrian region. This research highlights the importance of characterising the complex interactions between humans, animals and environments during the Late Pleistocene and how they responded to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

Desert margins preserve evidence of more extensive arid conditions in the past and represent global hot spots with respect to climate change. The balance of scientific evidence now suggests that dryland landscape reactivation did not correspond simply to ice age aridity peaks as previously assumed. This paper provides a new perspective on, and more nuanced understanding of, desert marginal landscapes as palaeoenvironmental archives. The two case studies represent ends of a sediment availability spectrum. Both environments experience substantial spatial and temporal variability in deposition, with implications for reconstructing past environments at individual sites. Recently generated chronostratigraphic data from the dry subhumid Dobrogea loess, Romania, are synthesised to provide quantitative insights into the spatial and temporal organisation of loess plateaux. Loess accumulation peaks during the LGM and MIS4, but not at all sites. Accumulation rates vary substantially between sites. Comparison of geographical context yields no clear driving mechanism for this variability. Secondly, two transverse lunette dunes in semi-arid Willandra Lakes, Australia, yield comparable chronostratigraphies and distribution of stratigraphic units. A first attempt is made to identify changes in wind regime through time on the Australian desert margins, and suggests that high latitude climate forcing may have acted upon semi-arid Australia over millennial scales. The novel perspectives generated from the new datasets provide unprecedented insights into past climate circulation and land surface processes along desert margins. These new perspectives, coupled with the new geochronological and quantitative palaeoclimate proxy tools now available, represent the next frontier for palaeoenvironmental research on desert margins.

The interaction between ice-sheet growth and retreat and sea-level change has been an established field of research for many years. However, recent advances in numerical modelling have shed new light on the precise interaction of marine ice sheets with the change in near-field sea level, and the related stability of the grounding line position. Studies using fully coupled ice-sheet – sea-level models have shown that accounting for gravitationally self-consistent sea-level change will act to slow down the retreat and advance of marine ice-sheet grounding lines. Moreover, by simultaneously solving the ’sea-level equation’ and modelling ice-sheet flow, coupled models provide a global field of relative sea-level change that is consistent with dynamic changes in ice-sheet extent. In this paper we present an overview of recent advances, possible caveats, methodologies and challenges involved in coupled ice-sheet – sea-level modelling. We conclude by presenting a first-order comparison between a suite of relative sea-level data and output from a coupled ice-sheet – sea-level model.

Geochemically fingerprinted widespread tephra layers serve as excellent marker horizons which can directly link and synchronize disparate sedimentary archives and be used for dating various deposits related to climate shifts, faulting events, tsunami, and human occupation. In addition, tephras represent records of explosive volcanic activity and permit assessment of regional ashfall hazard. In this paper we report a detailed Holocene tephrochronological model developed for the Kamchatsky Peninsula region of eastern Kamchatka (NW Pacific) based on ∼2800 new electron microprobe analyses of single glass shards from tephra samples collected in the area as well as on previously published data. Tephra ages are modeled based on a compilation of 223 14C dates, including published dates for Shiveluch proximal tephra sequence and regional marker tephras; new AMS 14C dates; and modeled calibrated ages from the Krutoberegovo key site. The main source volcanoes for tephra in the region are Shiveluch and Kliuchevskoi located 60–100 km to the west. In addition, local tephra sequences contain two tephras from the Plosky volcanic massif and three regional marker tephras from Ksudach and Avachinsky volcanoes located in the Eastern volcanic front of Kamchatka. This tephrochronological framework contributes to the combined history of environmental change, tectonic events, and volcanic impact in the study area and farther afield. This study is another step in the construction of the Kamchatka-wide Holocene tephrochronological framework under the same methodological umbrella. Our dataset provides a research reference for tephra and cryptotephra studies in the northwest Pacific, the Bering Sea, and North America.