Pollen and phytogeographic evidence provides a vegetational history of the Sahel for the period 0–18,000 yr B.P. The zonal vegetation fluctuated latitudinally and its most extreme positions occurred at 18,000 and 8500 yr B.P. The first involved a southward shift of the Sahelian wooded grassland to 10°N under the arid conditions of the last glacial maximum. The second change shows a rapid northward migration of humid vegetation: Guinean elements reach 16°N and Sahelo-Sudanian elements extend to the southern margin of the modern Sahara (21°N) when the Atlantic monsoon flux increased. In the middle Holocene the extensive spread of Sudanian elements into the modern Sahelian zone suggests the appearance of a markedly dry season. The modern Sahelian semiarid conditions appeared abruptly at 2000 yr B.P.

The lower carnassial lengths of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in 12 late Pleistocene samples from Britain indicate that, on average, local hyenas of the last (Devensian) glaciation were significantly larger than their last-interglaciation (Ipswichian) counterparts. Together with the tendency for spotted hyena carnassial length to increase with latitude in present-day Africa, this suggests that spotted hyena body size is inversely related to temperature, as predicted by Bergmann's rule. The implication is that spotted hyena carnassial length can be used as an independent gauge of Pleistocene temperature variation, though the combined African and British data imply that the relationship between carnassial length and temperature is curvilinear, such that as temperature declines, equal amounts of further decline produce progressively smaller increases in average carnassial length.

Skeletal remains of Homo erectus found in Pleistocene loess at two sites near Lantian in central China are of greatly different geologic age. The cranium found in the fossil-bearing strata at Gongwangling is about 1.15 myr old whereas the remains found at the Chenjiawo locality in middle Pleistocene loess are about 0.65 myr old. The dating is based on new paleomagnetic polarity determinations and on the lithostratigraphic position of the fossils in the loess-paleosol sequence. Our results confirm that both localities are older than the first occupation of Zhoukoudian. New dates, palaeoenvironmental settings, and morphological features of the hominids from Lantian localities have significant bearing on the understanding of adaptive radiations of the middle and late hominids in Asia.

Recent work on the middle Paleolithic at Bir Tarfawi, in the hyperarid Eastern Sahara (<1 mm of rain per annum), has yielded a rich faunal assemblage, including several thousand remains of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. They are derived from the sediments of two consecutive lakes dated by several techniques to about 135,000 yr B.P. Fifty-nine taxa have been identified and indicate that at times during the Last Interglaciation the area received at least 500 mm of rainfall as a result of the northward shift of the monsoon belt, and that, on several occasions, there may have been water connections between Bir Tarfawi and unidentified but permanent bodies of water elsewhere.

Extensive patches of fossil shell deposits are found in many places along the rims of emerged coastal embayments and lagoon floors on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Compositional and depositional sequences of fossil shells (Veneridae, Cerithidae, and Nassaridae) reveal that the bulk of the valves has been accumulated by three processes: (a) the shells have been piled up on the rims of emerged coastal embayments mainly by wave action; (b) following coastal progradation since the late Subboreal the shells possibly gathered on lagoon floors; and (c) the valves on the coastal hilly areas and dune areas were discarded by early human inhabitants in the course of their daily activities. Radiocarbon dates of fossil corals along the southwest and south coasts support this interpretation and indicate that mean sea level was at least 1 m higher than present in the middle Holocene. The fossil species may have lived in an intertidal zone of embayments and lagoons that extended 3 km or more inland form the present shore in the middle Holocene.

Leisey Shell Pit, on the southeastern edge of Tampa Bay, has produced the largest early Pleistocene vertebrate fauna in North America, consisting of about 30,000 cataloged specimens. The predominantly terrestrial and freshwater vertebrate fauna was transported into an estuarine environment during a regressive phase in an otherwise marine, bay-bottom sequence of sandy shell beds. The biochronological age of the Leisey Shell Pit local fauna is late Sappan (or late early Irvingtonian) based on the presence of such mammalian species as Mammuthus meridionalis and Smilodon gracilis, the absence of any Blancan holdovers, and early records of Lutra, Nothrotheriops, Palaeolama, and a new small glyptodont. Magnetostratigraphy indicates that the entire Pleistocene section at Leisey is reversed and thus presumably accumulated in the post-Olduvai part of the Matuyama Magnetochron (i.e., 1.66 myr or younger). Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) sampled from aragonitic bivalve shells (Chione cancellata) trend higher with increasing height in the section, yielding a mean age estimate for the two major bone beds of 1.7 ± 0.35 myr. In combination, these three geochronologic methods provide a high-resolution approach toward age determination and delimit the age of Leisey Shell Pit local fauna as between 1.66 and 1.4 myr.

Diatom assemblages from modern West African rivers and from lacustrine sediments subjected to deflation represent the present-day sources of continental diatoms to the sea. Diatom productivity in large rivers is high, especially for the genus Melosira. Windblown diatoms derive mainly from the central and northern Sahara (summer dust plume) where saline chloride-water assemblages are widespread, or from the southern edge of the Sahara (winter dust plume) where Melosira-rich assemblages of dilute water predominate. Freshwater diatom peaks in Atlantic cores may reflect (1) phases of increased river influx, correlated with humid episodes on the continent or (2) phases of enhanced deflation and wind transport during arid episodes (the single hypothesis for fine sediments from mid-ocean sites). Genus Melosira dominates the freshwater assemblages of many modern and fossil marine samples, whatever the transport agent is. Therefore, it is not an accurate paleoclimate indicator by itself, but associated taxa may provide information on the environmental and geographical origin of the displaced diatoms. This tentative approach shows that freshwater diatoms in Atlantic cores may be a good tool for reconstructing paleoclimates and for establishing continent-ocean correlations if species analyses are made and if the continental distribution of the taxa encountered is considered.

Three radiocarbon dates along with relative-dating criteria place limits on the deglaciation history of Manachaque Valley, Cordillera Central. Ice retreated from the late-glacial maximum by at least 12,100 yr B.P. During ice retreat numerous moraines were deposited throughout the valley. Glacier cover was reduced to about half that of the last glacial maximum by at least 9700 yr B.P. and to less than a tenth by at least 6450 yr B.P. Because all dates are minimum, the dates and field data are consistent with little or no ice remaining by early Holocene. No unambiguous Younger Dryas moraines are present.

In 1983 pingos were reported in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica. The features form dome-shaped hills up to 4 m high and 12 m in diameter and occur on an ice-cored moraine. Their form, structure, and sedimentary processes observed on the surface of the moraine, together with a consideration of the environmental requirements for pingo growth preclude their origin as pingos. They appear to be residual landforms that have formed on the surface of the moraine as the ice core has been destroyed by ablation and thermal erosion. The previous interpretation of the features has relied on the shape of the hills and their occurrence in a similar geologic setting to pingos in the Northern Hemisphere. The interpretation appears to have misinterpreted tension cracks and coherent slumping of sediment as dilation cracks and as evidence for the extrusion of a central sediment plug. Pingos on supraglacial debris have not been described from any other locations and it seems that their formation is inconsistent with the ablation of the ice core of moraines.

Four Holocene alluvial fills are present in Nebraska's South Loup River valley. Fill IV, the oldest and thickest, was deposited between 10,200 and 4800 14C yr B.P.; Fill III has an age of about 3000 14C yr B.P.; Fill II is younger than 2100 and older than 900 14C yr B.P.; and Fill I is younger than 900 14C yr B.P. Regional contemporaneity of valley alluviation in the eastcentral Great Plains suggests that climate has controlled long-term sediment storage in the South Loup River valley.