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Abstract

These datasets provide sedimentological data partly at annual resolution and an age model for the lateglacial part of (1) the ICDP sediment core 5017-1-A retrieved from the deep northern Dead Sea basin in 2010/11, and (2) for the Masada outcrop located at the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea sampled in 2018. The here investigated two sediment sections cover the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 17-11.5 ka BP) in the hydroclimatically sensitive Levant, when the water level of Lake Lisan – the precursor of the Dead Sea – dropped dramatically from its glacial high-stand to the Holocene low levels. Here, we analyze the interval between the last two gypsum units – the Upper Gypsum Unit (UGU) and the Additional Gypsum Unit (AGU) – which were also used to correlate the two sites. In the ICDP core this section is located between ~101 and 88.5 m sediment depth below lake floor and at Masada it encompasses the uppermost ~3.8 m sediments of the Lisan Formation, which form the terminal deposit at this site. Due to the lake level decline, the complete transition into the Holocene is only recorded in the ICDP core, while sedimentation at Masada terminates earlier. The microfacies was investigated by continuous thin section microscopy, while additional macroscopic information is provided from over- and underlying sediment sections. A revised chronology using age modelling in OxCal (Ramsey 2008; Ramsey 2009; Ramsey and Lee 2013) was developed for the ICDP core and a floating varve chronology was constructed at Masada. Using these new microfacies data from marginal (Masada) and deep-water (ICDP core) sediments, the hydroclimatic variability during the final stage of Lake Lisan can be reconstructed, which could provide important insights into the development of human sedentism in the region at this time.