A new series of 11 radiocarbon (AMS) dates were obtained to the Biśnik Cave, one of the most important Central European sites. New AMS dates contributed to a more precise stratigraphic model for the complex sequence of sediments in this site. Received results showed that layer 1a is younger than 15 kyr, and layers 1b, 1 and 2 are dated on 25–15 kyr. Layers 4–3 were dated on 40–35 kyr, while layers 7–5 on 70-40 kyr. Layer 7 is the first and the uppermost strata in the whole profile out of the radiocarbon method. The new re-examination of chronology and fauna shed new light on the history of Biśnik fauna. The obtained UTh date of an age of 225 ± 27 kyr confirmed assignation layer 18 to MIS 7. Results of AMS dating were compared with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and uranium-thorium dates as well as with results of biostratigraphic analysis. Results of data received from different direct dating methods (AMS, UTh, OSL, and TL) are confirmed also by data obtained from the biostratigraphic analysis. Only the maximum age of the lowermost sediments is still debatable. The whole, exceptionally abundant fauna, documented last ∼340 kyr, roughly between MIS 10/9-1. Among mammals, ancient species, early and mid-Middle Pleistocene faunal markers are absent.

The sandy Barrier III of the southern Brazilian coast was formed by sea-level high stands correlated to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, but little is still known about its behavior and evolution between the last glacial period (MIS 4–2, 71–11.7 ka) and the Holocene (MIS 1). A study on luminescence-dated continental sedimentary successions directly overlying MIS 5c (105.9–92.8 ka) marine deposits shows a wet, partially vegetated aeolian system developed between <104 and >82 ka, succeeded by a dry aeolian system accumulated mainly as transgressive sand sheets (TSSs) on interdune flats between ~82 and 10.5 ka. Protosols interbedded with TSSs indicate episodic vegetation expansion between ∼71 and 46 ka. Sediment accumulation was apparently controlled by autogenic (cannibalization, migration of bedforms) and allogenic (sea-level oscillations, climate) processes. Weathering and pedogenesis promoted changes in color and magnetic susceptibility (MS), and the development of redoximorphic features involving Fe and Mn released from weathered minerals. Strong pedogenesis after ∼10.5 ka, probably related to the Holocene climatic optimum (HCO) and orbitally driven increased seasonality and dryness, produced rubification similar to red beds on the barrier top. This study contributes to the understanding of long-term evolution and sedimentary dynamics of coastal barriers and aeolian systems on glacial–interglacial timescales.

The Mammoth Site (MS) at Hot Springs, South Dakota, provides a unique opportunity to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions on the Northern Great Plains of the United States. Previous radiocarbon analyses of mammoth bone apatite suggested the MS sinkhole was deposited ∼42–23 cal ka BP. However, two U-series ages and one thermoluminescence (TL) age ranged between 150 and 101 ka, suggesting the bones were considerably older. We analyzed six samples from the bone bed using infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) on feldspars, because the quartz luminescence was saturated; the ages ranged from approximately 232 to 160 ka, showing better agreement with previous U-series and TL analyses. In addition, we dated three samples on two terraces that are at lower elevation than the MS. Our new IRSL ages show that the sediments of the MS were likely well bleached, derived from pond margin runoff events, and deposited as sandy-silt laminae couplets. Our chronology indicates that the 6-m-thick bone-bearing sediments accumulated at a rate of approximately 12 mm/yr and that deposition occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 and MIS 7, not MIS 2 and MIS 3 as previously published.

Understanding the local to regional history of extreme events such as debris flows and floods provides context to plan for and mitigate these hazards to life, property, and infrastructure. The Klamath Mountains of northwestern California have experienced both debris flows and devastating wildfires. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (WHIS) is at the heart of this range and has a wealth of debris flow–related landforms. Gaining an understanding of prehistoric flows and their relationship with fire or other potential triggers can help mitigate future problems. Optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon analyses from sediment and entrained organics in undisturbed facies, including beneath partially buried boulders, establishes a chronology of paleo-events in WHIS. The levee deposits indicate a repetition of debris flows during the latest Holocene, every 125–150 years, since 850 yr. Larger flows occurred, with a record elucidated from debris-flow deposits along Clear Creek, with Middle Holocene ages, ca. 2600 to 5500 yr, most of which have sufficient concentrations of charcoal to indicate origins as postfire debris flows. Deposits at higher elevations show events from the latest Pleistocene ca. 13,000 yr. This geochronology indicates that these are not singular events but are relatively common and inherent to the geomorphic processes shaping this landscape.

Fossils and more recent remains of dead organisms serve as natural archives of Earth’s recent and ancient history. It is often the case that small or fragmented specimens, especially microvertebrate bones, go unstudied. Accurate identification of such remains to a specific taxonomic level can help address a wide range of questions spanning paleontology, paleoecology, zooarchaeology, ecology, conservation science, forensics, and biogeography. Geometric morphometrics demonstrates significant potential for identifying fragmented lizard fossils to at least the family level based on shape differentiation. Our proof-of-concept study using lizard maxillae of extant species within the Pacific Northwest, USA, accurately identified fragmented maxillae with as few as six comparative specimens per genus. These findings establish a framework for addressing taxonomic challenges in fragmented bone specimen identification for taxa whose curated comparative specimens are small in number and unequal in representation.

The cold, low carbon dioxide (CO2) conditions of the Pleistocene epoch fundamentally structured ecosystems, profoundly influencing the evolutionary trajectory of Homo sapiens and other large mammals. Although often considered uniquely stable, the Holocene is more usefully viewed as just another Pleistocene interglacial interval that was naturally trending towards a renewed glacial phase. However, rapid anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission rates have reversed this trajectory and might have now foreclosed the prospect of returning to cyclic glacial climates for millennia. A large set of flora and fauna has benefited from low CO2 conditions, which we define as low-CO2 dependents. By elevating atmospheric CO2 concentrations beyond levels seen for millions of years, we have accelerated global warming beyond the adaptive capacities of many species and ecosystems. African savannas and grasslands are particularly relevant in this context because this was the environment in which the human species evolved. These biomes have been previously maintained by fire and carbon scarcity but are now experiencing woody encroachment driven by rising CO2. The resultant global reforestation further threatens biodiversity adapted to open ecosystems, while rewilding initiatives must therefore pair prehistoric analogues with explicit climate-fitness tests that anticipate mid-century CO2 trajectories. Addressing these complex challenges requires both targeted local interventions and systemic policy reforms, grounded in a pragmatic recognition of the transient nature of the Holocene. Recognising the transience of any single baseline allows conservation and agriculture to plan for a dynamic, overshoot-prone future.

The Chalbi Desert, located in eastern Africa, is a significant but overlooked archive of the Pleistocene and Holocene periods that could add insight into investigations on human evolution. We revisited southeastern Chalbi Desert landforms between the towns of Kargi and Maikona to improve the chronostratigraphy and provide paleoenvironmental context. Direct U-series and electron spin resonance dating of various fossil teeth recovered from a deflated dune (Qzs) landform at the Farre locality return a mean age of ∼545 ka, which is compatible with biostratigraphic inferences. While this numerical age result should probably be regarded as mostly indicative given the existing uncertainty on the environmental dose rate evaluation, the data set available nevertheless strongly suggests a Middle Pleistocene age for at least some of the fauna. Sedimentology, luminescence, and 14C dating further suggest that this Qzs landform and its contents were modified by alluvial fan development and weathering during denudation in a proximal fan setting through the late Pleistocene into the Holocene. The Qzs landform currently experiences aeolian additions, erosion, and salt-affected soil development in an arid climate. Pedogenic carbonate isotope geochemistry suggests that deflated sand dunes were covered by woody grasslands during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and 3 pluvials, consistent with nearby fan progradation constrained at >35 ka. The desert experienced increased hydrologic activity during late Pleistocene and African humid period pluvials, as evidenced by additional optically stimulated luminescence and 14C dating from fan, dune, and playa contexts. The last significant pluvial episode ended after 4.4 ± 0.3 cal ka BP, which coincides with the final regression of nearby Lake Turkana. This study extends the chronology of Quaternary sediments in the Chalbi Desert to the Middle Pleistocene and offers paleoenvironmental insights into the conditions experienced by Middle Stone Age tool users in the region.

Understanding biotic responses to environmental changes will help identify extinction risks and direct conservation efforts to mitigate negative effects associated with anthropogenic-induced environmental changes. Here we use the Quaternary fossil record of mole salamanders (Ambystoma) from the southwestern United States and northern Mexico to reveal geographic patterns of extirpation since the Pleistocene. Ambystoma are known to have previously inhabited regions of central Texas on the Edwards Plateau; however, they are largely absent from the region today. We used a well-dated fossil record of Ambystoma from Hall’s Cave combined with other fossil sites in the region to deduce why Ambystoma was ultimately extirpated from the Edwards Plateau and to test hypotheses related to temperature-driven body-size changes in line with the temperature–size rule. We propose that Ambystoma was likely extirpated from the region due to changing temperature and precipitation regimes that caused increased mortality and disruptions to breeding and larval development. We found some support for decreased body size in Ambystoma with increased temperature during the late Pleistocene, suggesting that body size may be an important feature to monitor in modern populations of Ambystoma as salamanders become subjected to increasingly hotter temperatures in the coming decades.

Despite lying at a crossroad of Pleistocene hominin dispersals, little is known about human occupation in Iraq during this period. An archaeological survey in the Western Desert is revealing recurrent hominin activity at Shbicha, highlighting the region’s potential in advancing our understanding of hominin behaviour and dispersal across South-west Asia.

We report new interpretation of >19,500 beach strandlines from waterbodies in the western St. Lawrence and Champlain Lowlands in northern New York and adjacent areas of Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario from ≤2-m-resolution digital elevation models. Strandline evidence supports a deglaciation model in which proglacial lake and marine shoreline deposits adjusted continuously in response to steady shoreline regression linked to outlet incision, differential isostatic adjustments, and postglacial relative sea-level rise. Gaps in strandline preservation reflect times of rapid water-level decline associated with breakout floods and abrupt shifts in drainage to new outlets. Water levels returned to slower, steady decline and renewed beach sedimentation during the later stages of a breakout as water levels in the source and receiving waterbodies equilibrated. Our conclusions contrast with previous models that infer discrete lake stages were controlled by stable outlets then fell abruptly as lower outlets were exhumed from beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet during deglaciation. We present a new deglacial chronology and lake nomenclature that reflects this paradigm and redefines the spatial and temporal distributions of proglacial lake and marine water in the region.

While geological and paleoanthropological studies at Laetoli have focused on the relatively fossiliferous Ndolanya and Laetolil beds, Laetoli’s younger Naibadad and Olpiro beds provide an important record of Pleistocene volcanism, tectonics, and landscape evolution in northern Tanzania. This study documents the mineralogical and geochemical compositions of their tephra using EPMA of glass and phenocrysts, and their ages using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Naibadad Beds tephra is rhyolitic or trachytic, compositionally distinct from the underlying Ndolanya and overlying Olpiro beds in their mineral assemblages and glass and phenocryst compositions. The Naibadad Beds can be divided into chronostratigraphic clusters as follows: Lower (2.189–2.154 Ma), Middle (2.115–2.104 Ma), and Upper (2.036–2.004 Ma). Most Naibadad Beds tephra could not be compositionally differentiated, although the basal Naibadad Beds tuff is unique in having both trachytic glass and andradite garnet. The uppermost Naibadad Beds tuff at Locality 23 has rhyolitic glass and aenigmatite like Olduvai Gorge’s Naabi ignimbrite and a similar age (2.033 Ma and 2.004 Ma, respectively), although they differ in feldspar and augite composition and are likely not from the same eruption. The lack of direct correlatives between Olduvai and Laetoli, which both derived tephra from Ngorongoro over the same time interval, is likely explained by paleotopography.

The paleopedology of the world’s largest retrogressive thaw slump, Batagay, is understudied. Micromorphological and geochemical analysis reveal the properties of th host sediments and major pedogenic features. Epigenetic soil profiles of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 (or older) and 5e are clearly distinguished and well developed due to favorable bioclimatic conditions for pedogenesis, probably similar to modern ones. The oldest unit contains a paleosol similar to a Histic Reductaquic Cryosol, indicating a peat-covered, boggy environment. The MIS 5e unit contains organic-rich Histic Spodic Cryosol with well-developed structure, formed during the interglacial optimum, which was relatively warm and presumably resembled modern bioclimatic conditions. MIS 4–3 deposits contains soil-like bodies enriched in coarse organogenic material resembling incipient Histic Reductaquic Cryosols. Interglacial/interstadial units contain micromorphological evidence of aggregate and pore formation, Fe-oxide and organic matter redistribution and clay accumulation. Stadial deposits show weakly expressed soil structure with uneven aggregates, cryogenic disintegration of plant detritus and rare evidence of accumulation of humic substances. Major elemental ratios indicate intensification of biochemical weathering in paleosols and soil-like bodies. Pedogenically reworked material of stadial sedimentary units with sporadic and incipient soil-like bodies provide a significant source for paleoenvironmental reconstruction of harsh Late Pleistocene environments.

The global record of fossil hyenid tracks is sparse—the only formal reports that can be considered reliable are of trackways from Tanzania and a single track from Greece. However, trackway and track patterns of the four extant members of the Hyaenidae are distinctive among the tracks of carnivorans. A Pleistocene trackway comprising five manus–pes pairs has been identified on an aeolianite surface on the Cape south coast of South Africa, and is attributed to a hyena, most likely the brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea). The diagnostic approach followed involves a combination of the knowledge of Indigenous Master Trackers and the methods of modern ichnology.

A paleomagnetic study of basaltic lava flows exposed in the northern Neuquén Cordillera, southernmost Central Andes, along the Antiñir-Copahue fault zone (ACFZ), involved 25 sites of the Cola de Zorro Formation (Pliocene–Early Pleistocene) along two different sections. The sites show exclusive normal polarity, corresponding to the Late Pliocene Gauss chron (3.6–2.6 Ma). The angular standard deviation of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs; ASD = 14.8°) is consistent with the expected values from recent geomagnetic models, in opposition to anomalously low dispersion found in previous studies in Pleistocene VGPs of reverse polarity from neighboring areas to our study zone. Mean paleomagnetic directions for Bella Vista (Dec = 0.0°, Inc = −50.0°, α₉₅ = 7.6°, K = 36.7, N = 11) and Río Huaraco sections (Dec = 354.9°, Inc = −57.0°, α₉₅ = 7.5°, K = 55.7, N = 8) do not show tectonic rotation around vertical axes. Combining and regrouping our and previous data by area confirmed the absence of tectonic rotations in the Huaraco-Trohunco block and a statistically significant clockwise rotation of 14.4° ± 10.3° of three adjacent tectonic blocks located south of our study locality in Pleistocene times. These results suggest that strike-slip deformation along some sections of the ACFZ was significant in the Pleistocene structural evolution of this region.

The dynamics of our species’ dispersal into the Pacific remains intensely debated. The authors present archaeological investigations in the Raja Ampat Islands, north-west of New Guinea, that provide the earliest known evidence for humans arriving in the Pacific more than 55 000–50 000 years ago. Seafaring simulations demonstrate that a northern equatorial route into New Guinea via the Raja Ampat Islands was a viable dispersal corridor to Sahul at this time. Analysis of faunal remains and a resin artefact further indicates that exploitation of both rainforest and marine resources, rather than a purely maritime specialisation, was important for the adaptive success of Pacific peoples.

Two sediment sections are investigated at Cape Arkhangelos, island of Rhodes, where Pleistocene marine sediments crop out in horsts and grabens of a Mesozoic basement. There, hemipelagic sediments characterized by upper bathyal communities are atypically mixed with much shallower faunal components because they were deposited close to rugged coastal landforms. Biostratigraphic analyses show that the sections were deposited between 1.8 and 0.9 Ma, and between 1.8 and 1.6 Ma, respectively. By combining the planktonic/benthic foraminiferal ratio with 31 bathymetric indicators chosen among extant species of benthic foraminifera, mollusks, and bryozoans, we show that relative sea-level fluctuations can be reconstructed in these atypical settings despite the proximity of steep slopes that favored transportation of allochthonous fauna. The shallow-water components (including gravels and calcareous algae) were transported downslope by the combined action of gravity, currents, and tectonic disturbance that promoted drowning (with a maximum flooding recorded at ca. 1.7 Ma) and then uplift of fault-bounded paleovalleys that formed during the Early Pleistocene. Abrupt facies changes and age differences between sections have been triggered by the irregular paleotopography of the Mesozoic basement, which fostered differential depositional settings, with outer to middle neritic deposits above the horsts and upper bathyal deposits in paleovalleys.

Weathering has etched and deeply-denticulated the constituent orthopyroxenes, and chlorite has been transformed to vermiculite in the upper 3 m of an aeolian, periglacial sand dune formed in northeastern Indiana about 13,000 b.p. Pyroxene weathering begins with the development of cleavage-parallel etch pits on {010} and {100} surfaces. These pits coalesce and eventually crop out on basal surfaces as denticulations. The mean denticulation size increases logarithmically toward the surface, and the denticulation size of the orthopyroxenes is a quantifiable feature of the weathering process. Ferruginous pendants, microboxworks of iron oxides, and other indications of iron redeposition within the ortho-pyroxene microenvironments were not observed.

Chlorite in the dune has been weathered to vermiculite. The parent chlorite is a high-Fe variety, and the transformation to vermiculate does not involve the development of a chlorite/vermiculite intermediary phase. Fe2+ is oxidized as part of the transformation process and this iron is retained in the sediment as discrete goethite and as crystalline and noncrystalline coatings on the dune grains. The vermiculite from depths shallower than 64 cm is only partly expandable and is completely collapsed by K-saturation or heat treatment. This is a hydroxy-Al vermiculite and its formation is typical of intense weathering under the acid conditions prevalent at the dune surface.

We present new stable oxygen and carbon isotope composite records (δ18O, δ13C) of speleothems from Sandkraal Cave 1 (SK1) on the South African south coast for the time interval between 104 and 18 ka (with a hiatus between 48 and 41 ka). Statistical comparisons using kernel-based correlation analyses and semblance analyses based on continuous wavelet transforms inform the relationships of the new speleothem records to other proxies and their changes through time. Between 105 and ~70 ka, changes of speleothem δ18O values at SK1 are likely related to rainfall seasonality. Variations of δ13C values are associated with changes of vegetation density, prior carbonate precipitation (PCP), CO2 degassing in the cave, and possibly variations of the abundance of C3 and C4 grasses in the vegetation. The relationships of δ18O with other proxies shift between ~70 and 48 ka (Marine Isotope Stages 4–3) so that both stable isotope records now reflect CO2 degassing, evaporation, and PCP. Similar relationships also continue after the hiatus for the deposition phase between 42 and 18 ka. Our findings support modeling results suggesting drier conditions in the study area when the Southern Hemisphere westerlies are shifted north and the paleo–Agulhas Plain is exposed.