While we know that modern anthropogenic climate change is superimposed upon significant natural climate variability, the instrumental record of climate is too short to capture the full range of this variability. In order to fully understand and predict future changes, therefore, high-resolution, welldated paleoclimate records are needed to extend the record. This paleoclimate data allows us to quantify natural variability and learn how the climate system responded to past changes in boundary conditions and forcings and provides a vital test for state-of-the-art coupled climate models. more...