Raw pollen counts and pollen percentages quantified from sediment core MD96-2098

Pollen counts and percentages from marine core MD96-2098 (25°36′S, 12°38′E) in southwestern Africa spanning Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 to 2. The core was sampled every 10 cm between 450 and 1940cm (uncorrected depth) for pollen analysis. The uncorrected depth did not take into account artificial gaps created during piston extraction (Bertrand et al., 1996). Depths were corrected to take into account these artificial sediment gaps. An age model was established for the record based on 16 marine isotope events (MIEs) from the Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi δ18O benthic record of MD96-2098 (Bertrand et al., 2002) and 14 accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon ages from mixed planktonic foraminifera extracted from MD96-2098 (Urrego et al 2015, Table S2 in the Supplement). Marine sediment samples from MD96-2098 were analysed under the microscope until a sum of at least 100 pollen grains excluding fern spores was reached. The pollen sequence from MD96-2098 covers the period between 24 and 190 thousand years before present and provides an integrated picture of past regional vegetation changes in southwestern Africa.