Neoglaciation. Neoglacial cooling led to w10-20 km (?) of GIS advance, and a >35 km advance of Jakobshavn Isbræ. As these reconstructions are further developed, we move closer to quantifying aspects of the sensitivity of the western GIS to climate change. THE POST-1.0 MA EVOLUTION OF LARGE MAMMAL ENDEMISM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA IN RELATION TO EAST AFRICA AND SUBSEQUENT BIOGEOGRAPHIC ISOLATION OF THE CAPE COASTAL REGION James Brink. National Museum, South Africa E-mail address: jbrink@nasmus.co.za Southern African mammal faunas evolved an inter-regional distinctive character in relation to East Africa in a time postdating a million years ago. The large mammal fossil record of southern Africa of this time period can be divided into three evolutionary stages - the Cornelian Land Mammal Age, the Florisian Land Mammal Age and the modern. This faunal succession is recorded primarily in the central interior of southern Africa. The fossil assemblages from Cornelia-Uitzoek record the initiation of the process of increased endemism associated with open, treeless grasslands, but can still be correlated with the Bed IV fauna from Olduvai on the basis of surviving archaic forms. By the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene the open grassland character of the large mammal fauna, in addition to a pronounced wetland component, became fully established in the Flo- risian faunas. The Florisian faunal character persists until the end of the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene, when six specialized grazing ungu- lates became extinct and the local wetland component disappeared to survive as a relict in the Okavango area of Botswana. The Late Pleistocene- Holocene boundary marks the appearance of the modern large mammal fauna in the interior of southern African. At a more localised biogeo- graphic level there is evidence for intra-regional endemism in southern Africa, which postdates the c. 1.0 Ma biogeographic separation of East and southern Africa. Sites on the Western Cape coast, such as Swartklip, Elandsfontein and Sea Harvest, record fossil wildebeest populations that show marked body size reduction, when compared to contemporaneous populations of the central interior. These populations reflect dispersals of interior faunas onto the Cape coastal zone and subsequent evolutionary drift, particularly during glacials, when lowered sea levels exposed the continental platform as additional habitat for plains-living grazing ungulates. AN OUTLINE OF THE SUBSISTENCE AND SITE LOCATION OF THE FUNNEL BEAKER CULTURE (TRB) IN THE NETHERLANDS Otto Brinkkemper. Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), Netherlands E-mail address: o.brinkkemper@cultureelerfgoed.nl The megalithic tombs of the TRB belong to the most conspicuous archaeological monuments in the Netherlands, since visible archaeo- logical remains are a rare phenomenon. Like the majority of the TRB settlements from this country, they are situated on the acid Pleistocene sandy soils where Holocene sedimentation is often lacking. Both condi- tions have major drawbacks for the preservation of organic materials, such as animal bones and plant remains. Insight into subsistence on these Pleistocene sites is therefore first and foremost produced by carbonized plant and burnt animal remains and botanical imprints in pottery. Pollen preserved in soils under burials yield information of the environment around the sites, and the human exploitation of it. A handful of sites with waterlogged preservation of remains in former coastal areas indicate specialized activities: fish weirs in Emmeloord (prov. of Flevoland), a (seasonal) hunting/fowling site and a fishing camp at Slootdorp-Bouwlust (prov. of Noord-Holland). Moreover, excavations in this area have possibly yielded a house plan with a central row of posts, measuring c. 11 x 4 m, at Slootdorp-Bouwlust. Depositions of pottery and possible food remains are known from raised bogs in the province of Drenthe. The more or less contemporaneous Vlaardingen culture, restricted to the Holocene parts of the Netherlands, offers interesting results for comparison. All these archaeological sources are put together to present an outline of subsistence and site location of the Dutch TRB. THE HOLOCENE DEPOSITS OF LAKE PETIT (2200 M A.S.L., SOUTHERN FRENCH ALPS): CLIMATIC AND ANTHROPOGENIC CONTROLS ON MOUNTAIN SEDIMENT DYNAMICS? Elodie Brisset. CEREGE / IMEP, France E-mail address: brisset@cerege.fr Numerous archaeological studies carried out in high-elevation areas of the Southern French Alps have documented ancient human occupation of mountains, mainly characterized by pastoral and mining activities. Besides, the area was affected by both continental and Mediterranean climate instability throughout the Holocene. Lake Petit, located in the Mercantour massif, was investigated in order to reconstruct past interac- tions between humans, the environment and climate, using a multidisci- plinary approach. This study was carried out on a 144 cm-long gravity core providing a continuous record spanning the last 5000 years. Our multi- proxy investigation (sedimentological, geochemical and palynological analyses), allowed us to reconstruct three main phases, evidencing a progressive destabilization of the local environment. The first phase (ca. 4800 to 4300 cal. BP) was characterized by relatively stable environmental conditions, as attested by a high lake productivity (deposition of pure diatomite) and by the local presence of trees (presence of conifer stomata). The second phase (ca. 4300 to 1500 cal. BP) could correspond to a drastic cleaning of landscapes since the lake record highlights an abrupt switch in sediment source marked by an input of terrestrial organic matter. Regular occurrences of anthropogenic pollen assemblages might indicate early pastoral activity in the lake vicinity, while wetter conditions characteristic of the Neoglacial period may have trigger hillslopes destabilization. The most recent phase (since ca. 1500 cal. BP) is marked by a final degradation of the environment: the lake productivity dramatically decreased contemporaneously with a fall of the AP/NAP pollen curve. This phase also exhibits the highest values of anthropogenic pollen taxa and concentra- tions of lead. It undoubtedly corresponded to one of an intensive agro- pastoral pressure as well to local mining activities. JOINING THE DOTS: COMBING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR AND OPTICAL DATING TO DEFINE AEOLIAN STRATIGRAPHY Charlie Bristow. Birkbeck University of London, United Kingdom E-mail address: c.bristow@ucl.ac.uk Optical dating of dune sands often shows a high degree of spatial and temporal complexity that can be reconciled by correlating sample depths to dune stratigraphy using ground penetrating radar (GPR). This paper uses examples from desert sediments in Africa and Australia to show how a combination of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and optical dating can be used to constrain aeolian stratigraphy. GPR provides an image of the strata within sand dunes with reflections from sets of cross-stratification within the dunes. The reflection patterns can be interpreted to reveal the history of dune migration and accumulation. In addition, stratigraphic relation- ships including truncations of strata reveal breaks in deposition. Cross- cutting relationships and superposition are interpreted to determine the relative ages of dune strata and develop a relative chronology. Interpreted GPR profiles are used to pick sampling points for optical dating and determine depositional ages for the strata. This paper compares inter- pretations of dune stratigraphy in the Namib sand sea based on optical dating with and without the constraints of a relative stratigraphy from GPR. Plots of age against elevation, and age depth plots, fail to discriminate the patterns of dune dynamics that can be demonstrated using GPR. In Australia the GPR fails to resolve sedimentary structures as successfully but can still indicate dune accretion and the presence of palaeosols within the dunes which helps to understand dune ages. DUST AND DEFLATION FROM THE BODÉLÉ DEPRESSION IN CHAD Charlie Bristow. Birkbeck University of London, United Kingdom E-mail address: c.bristow@ucl.ac.uk The Bodélé Depression in Chad is identified as the planet's largest single source of atmospheric mineral dust. During the Holocene and Late Pleis- tocene the Bodélé Depression was host to a great lake, palaeolake Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 9–120 69