Description: The data set contains lipid biomarker and bulk organic matter data from two sediment cores in the Shaban Deep, in the northern Red Sea. One core is deposited in the hypersaline brine (GeoB7805-1 2) and the other core (GeoB7807-2) is deposited outside the brine. The data set compares the lipid biomarker signals in the two deposition settings. For both cores the data set contains total organic carbon data, total nitrogen data, bulk organic matter carbon and hydrogen isotope data, long-chain n-alkane concentrations, alkenone concentrations, long- and short-chain fatty acid concentrations, long-chain n-alkane and long-chain fatty acid average chain length and carbon preference index data, UK37 data, stable carbon and hydrogen isotope data for long-chain n-alkanes, alkenones, and long- and short chain fatty acids.

Description: This data set includes δ¹³C of bulk OC and Fatty acids in two nearshore sediment cores collected by the piston corer from coastal South China Sea. These data could help us to constrain the anthropogenic perturbations of different terrestrial OC export to the coastal ocean.

Description: Waterfall Bluff, in Eastern Mpondoland (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa), is a recently excavated archaeological site with deposits spanning Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 to the Middle Holocene. Here, we present preliminary results of a multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study combining macro-botanical remains, charcoal, phytoliths, pollen and plant waxes derived from the same archaeological record. We aim to understand the interactions between hunter-gatherer plant foraging and climate and environmental change in coastal Mpondoland from MIS 3 to the Early Holocene at Waterfall Bluff. The charcoal and pollen records at Waterfall Bluff show the gathering of a variety of woody taxa characterised by their combustion and medicinal properties (e.g., Millettia grandis and Apodytes dimidiate). The leaves identified in the macrobotanics and in the phytolith record might belong to some of these taxa and it is likely that they were used for medicinal purposes. From a palaeoenvironmental perspective, our results indicate low precipitation and low rainfall seasonality under cool conditions during MIS 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Under these conditions, open woodlands interspersed with dry and hygrophilous grasslands and bushveld vegetation with significant representation of fynbos elements occurred in the local landscapes probably along Podocarpus/Afrocarpus forests. The latter could have been (1) present along river valleys and scarps on the Mpondoland exposed continental shelf towards the south and west of Waterfall Bluff, supported by palaeorivers and cool temperatures favouring low evapotranspiration, or (2) present in the interior with pollen grains possibly transported to the site by intensified westerly winds. These forests contracted as a result of the post-glacial marine transgression or reduced westerlies following the LGM. During the Early Holocene, the palaeoenvironmental signal points to higher summer rainfall and higher seasonality than during MIS 3, the LGM and the LGIT. These changes are coeval with an increase of coastal forests and C4 mesic grasslands with localized wetland vegetation around Waterfall Bluff. These multi-proxy archaeobotanical and biochemical data show that landscapes surrounding Waterfall Bluff changed in relation to marine transgressions/regressions and changes in rainfall intensity and seasonality. The people of Waterfall Bluff foraged the coasts during glacial periods to collect wood.