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Relic coastal landforms (fossil corals, cemented intertidal deposits, or erosive features carved onto rock coasts) serve as sea‐level index points (SLIPs), that are widely used to reconstruct past sea‐level changes. Traditional SLIP‐based sea‐level reconstructions face challenges in capturing continuous sea‐level variability and dating erosional SLIPs, such as tidal notches. Here, we propose a novel approach to such challenges. We use a numerical model of cliff erosion embedded within a Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the most likely sea‐level scenarios responsible for shaping one of the best‐preserved tidal notches of Last Interglacial age in Sardinia, Italy. Results align with Glacial Isostatic Adjustment model predictions, indicating that synchronized or out‐of‐sync ice‐volume shifts in Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets can reproduce the notch morphology, with sea level confidently peaking at 6 m and only under a higher than present erosion regime. This new approach yields insight into sea‐level trends during the Last Interglacial. Plain Language Summary Scientists typically investigate the position of sea level in geological time using the elevation, age, and characteristics of fossil marine organisms living in shallow water (e.g., coral reefs), beach deposits, or erosional features that were formed near the sea level. However, these indicators offer only fragmented, if not only point‐like information in time and not a continuous sea‐level record. To overcome this issue, we use a numerical model that reconstructs the shape of tidal notches (i.e., indentations created close to sea level in carbonate cliffs). We compare model‐generated notch shapes with the real shape of the tidal notch, and we produce a set of continuous sea‐level histories that are more likely to have produced one of the best‐preserved fossil tidal notches in the Orosei Gulf, Sardinia, Italy, carved during the Last Interglacial highstand, 125.000 years ago. Our findings suggest that whether the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland melted at the same time or separately, both scenarios could reproduce the actual shape of the tidal notch we observe at present. Our findings indicate that the erosion rate during that period was higher than present and the sea level is very likely to have reached up to 6 m. Key Points Cliff erosion modeling and Monte Carlo analysis indicate tidal notch geometry can offer a continuous record of past sea level variability The geometry of Orosei’s tidal notch, Italy can be replicated through simultaneous or asynchronous Antarctic–Greenland ice melting scenarios The morphology of the Last Interglacial notch is more efficiently replicated using higher‐than‐present erosion rates and a 6 m sea‐level peak

The last interglacial (LIG) is the last time global climate was about as warm as today, with global sea‐levels several metres higher. The LIG probably had a reduced latitudinal temperature gradient, with warmer poles and cooler tropics than today. Well‐constrained records from low latitudes can test this overall model. We used bivalve shells sampled from six localities thought to expose the LIG age Cockburn Town Member of the Grotto Beach Formation on both San Salvador and Great Inagua Islands, The Bahamas. Previous work described two LIG depositional intervals: older ‘Reef I’ and younger ‘Reef II’, separated by a disconformity. New amino acid racemisation (AAR) data were used to date each locality in this context and clumped isotope palaeothermometry was used to reconstruct LIG temperatures and the isotopic composition of sea water. AAR data are described from six sites: four with similar AAR values to the well‐dated Reef II Cockburn Town site, one Reef I age site on Great Inagua and one distinctly younger outcrop on San Salvador previously thought to be LIG age that may be MIS 5a. All LIG shells record cooler than modern conditions. The Δ 47 thermometry shows that the Reef I‐age shell population preserves the warmest mean temperature (25 ± 2°C) and most positive water δ 18 O values (+0.7 ± 0.4‰) across all sites. This contrasts with cool mean temperatures (~21–23°C) and fresher water δ 18 O values (−0.5 to +0.6‰) found from Reef II populations. Regional glacial isostatic adjustment through the LIG would have resulted in peak sea levels that post‐dated peak LIG temperatures. It is suggested that apparent cooler temperatures of Reef II do not reflect peak LIG temperatures but instead document the beginning of cooling into MIS 5d. Comparison with Δ 47 data from Bermuda supports a reduced latitudinal gradient throughout the LIG.

Aim: In this paper, we investigate the role of climate and topography in shaping the distribution of Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) at different spatial scales. To this end, we compiled the most comprehensive data set on the distribution of this species during the Last Interglacial optimum (MIS 5e) available to date. This was used to calibrate a palaeo-species distribution model, and analyse variable importance at continental and local scales. Location: Europe and Irano-Turanian region (20° N to 70° N, 10° W to 70° E). Methods: We used archaeological records and palaeoclimatic and topographic predictors to calibrate a model based on an ensemble of generalized linear models fitted with different combinations of predictors and weighted background data. Area under the curve scores computed by leave-one-out were used to assess variable importance at the continental scale, while local regression combined with recursive partition trees was used to assess variable importance at the local scale. Results: Annual rainfall and winter temperatures were the most important predictors at the continental scale, while topography and summer rainfall defined habitat suitability at the local scale. The highest habitat suitability scores were observed along the Mediterranean coastlines. Mountain ranges and continental plains showed low habitat suitability values. Main conclusions: The model results confirmed that abiotic drivers played an important role in shaping Neanderthals distribution during the Last Interglacial. The high suitability of the Mediterranean coastlines and the low suitability values of most sites at the northern and eastern distribution limits (Germany, Hungary, Ukraine) challenge the notion of Neanderthals as a species with preference for colder environments.

The penultimate glaciation (marine isotope stage (MIS) 6) is considered regionally extreme compared to the last glacial maximum, in which the European ice sheets had a vast areal extent. In contrast to the last deglaciation (19–7 ka), the penultimate deglaciation (140–130 ka) hosts one of the most rapid oceanographic changes of the late Pleistocene. In this study, we reconstructed changes in the near-surface and thermocline in the central to northeast Atlantic by analyzing sediments from two Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 306 sites. Sites U1313 (41°00.6′ N, 32°57.4′ W) and U1314 (56°21.9′ N, 27°53.3′ W) were drilled on the eastern flank of the mid-Atlantic ridge and Gardar Drift of the eastern subpolar North Atlantic, respectively. We analyzed planktonic foraminiferal assemblages, ice-rafted debris (IRD), and oxygen isotopes in two planktonic foraminifers, Globigerina bulloides, and Globorotalia inflata, from MIS 6 to 5e (185–115 ka). Warmer and colder sea-surface conditions were marked by a change in the relative abundance of polar, subpolar, and transitional planktonic foraminifers. Oxygen isotopes in G. bulloides and G. inflata suggest that the thermocline deepened at the subtropical Site U1313 during MIS 6. The lack of Globorotalia inflata prevented us from profiling the mixed layer and thermocline at the subpolar Site U1314. In contrast to MIS 6, the mixed layer and thermocline were re-stratified during the last interglacial. The lack of major IRD events at both sites suggests the stability of the Laurentide ice sheet during MIS 6 compared to the subsequent glaciation. The presence of Heinrich event 11 indicates the discharge of freshwater that freshened the sea surface, resulting in mixing between the mixed layer and thermocline. Our results were placed into a broader context using published data that shed light on the sensitivity of freshwater discharge to the North Atlantic and the following changes with a transition from a penultimate glacial to an interglacial period in surface circulation.

The initial phase of MIS 5e is associated with the first half of the Last Interglacial period. Reconstruction shows a change in plant communities of MIS 5e from broad-leaved Mediterranean species in western Europe to broad-leaved peri-Carpathian species of the East European Plain to broad-leaved-steppe communities of South Urals and dark taiga vegetation of West Siberia. Irrespective of the relative abundance of pollen belonging to temperate-zone communities, all the samples exhibit the same dominant mesophilic species in the forest succession. Alluvial deposits of MIS 4–5 are divided into three members: instratal and substratal alluvium deposited during the interglacial climatic optimum (5e), rhythmic constratal alluvium composed of a climatically contrasting set of substages 5a-d, and a terminal member composed of fine alluvial-deluvialaeolian deposits of MIS 4. Each warming/cooling pair that corresponds to either substages or parts of substages led to the deposition of an alluvial cycle, beginning with “warm” channels and lateral accumulation, which were followed by “cool” aggradation and “cold” floodplain planation.