Fig. 1.

Global and regional paleoclimate records for the past 20,000 y. (A) The chronology of EN, LN, and Prepottery Neolithic A (PPNA) cultures in the southern Levant based on calibrated ¹⁴C dates (14); individual calibrated (OxCal13) radiocarbon dates of HLT (red symbols ± 1σ) and HC EN (blue symbols ± 1σ). (B) Calculated Northern Hemisphere insulation at 60°N (22). (C) Composite Greenland ice core oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) values provide a proxy for paleotemperature (21). (D) DSB lake level reconstruction (24). (E) Eastern Mediterranean reconstruction of SST using alkenone unsaturation ratio ($U_{\mathit{37}}^{k\mathrm{’}}$) and Globigerinoides ruber δ¹⁸O values (23). (F) Soreq Cave speleothem record (3). S2 is a sapropel formation event in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; YD is the Younger Dryas; and H1 is a Heinrich Event.