Annually laminated, non-glacial lake sediments from Lake Holzmaar (Eifel, western Germany) were investigated using large "Merkt" thin sections. The absolute age of varve intervals with variations in thickness and composition were correlated to climatic changes recorded by glacier fluctuations in the Alps. Back to 8800 years VT (varve time =varve years before 1950) glacier advances coincide with sedimentation rate minima; prior to 8800 years VT they coincide with sedimentation rate maxima. The early and middle Holocene sediments suggest a periodicity of about 1000 years for cold/warm cycles. A sequence of 512 varvethickness measurements was subjected to spectral analysis. These provide apparent evidence for a l 1-year sun-spot cycle.
four sites (Lake Gosciaz, Elk Lake, Lake Holzmaar, Lake Meerfelder Maar) with organic, nonglacial varves, extending from the present back to the termination of the Pleistocene, when the abrupt change from glacial to interglacial climatic conditions occurred (Dean et al. 1984;Goslar et al. 1989;Zolitschka 1989Zolitschka , 1990 Zolitschka , 1991a, c), c).
Varved sediment sequences record complex paleoclimatic signals which have been regarded as imperfect meteorological time series (Anderson and Koopmans 1963). This paper reports qualitative and quantitative evidence of climatic changes during the last 12900 years using data on sedimentation rate and varve composition in combination with proxy-data of non-lacustrine origin.