An improved concept of the best analogs method is used to reconstruct the climate of the last glacial maximum from pollen data in Europe. In order to deal with the lack of perfect analogs of fossil assemblages and therefore to obtain a more accurate climate reconstruction, we used a combination of pollen types grouped according to plant phenology and present climate constraints rather than pollen percentages for each individual taxon. The distribution of pollen taxa into plant functional types (PFTs) is aimed to reflect the vegetation in terms of biomes which have a wider distribution than a species. The climatic variables are then calibrated on these PFTs using an artificial neural network technique. The use of PFTs allowed us to deal with situations where pollen assemblages have only partial modern analogs. The method is applied to the glacial steppic vegetation in Europe, using 15 pollen records. North of the Pyrenees–Alps line, the reconstructed temperatures were lower than today: −30 ± 10°C for the temperature of the coldest month ( Tc) and −12 ± 3°C for the annual mean ( Tann). South of that line, Tc and Tann anomalies were respectively, −15 ± 5°C and −10 ± 5°C. The available moisture index and annual precipitation were also lower than present: −60 ± 20% north of Mediterranean Sea, (−800 ± 100 mm for precipitation). In Italy and Greece, the available moisture was 20% lower, with a precipitation anomaly of ca. −600 ± 200 mm. Southward, the moisture index was close to that at present (±20%), and precipitation was lower (−300 ± 300 mm).

A broad outline is presented of forest distribution in Turkey during the last 15,000 years, based upon palynological evidence. The history of some selected taxa is given in more detail and compared with present day distributions. Considerable differences in forest composition were found between the mountain ranges N of the Anatolian plateau, the ranges S and SW of the plateau and the area SE of the eastern (Cilician) Taurus. Pinus dominated the northern part during most of the Late Glacial and the Holocene. In southwestern Anatolia a strong increase of Pinus halted SE of the Konya plain and this taxon did not cross the eastern Taurus. Cedrus and Abies fluctuated in relative importance during the period under discussion, but no marked shifts in the distribution are suggested by the pollen record. After c. 9000 BP, oak started to move into the treeless interior, especially in the SE where this tree settled on higher elevations in the steppe area. On the edges of the Anatolian plateau, oak acted as a pioneer, to be replaced by pine in the course of the Holocene. Birch, nowadays restricted mainly to higher elevations in eastern Turkey, was common in the Konya area during the last phase of the Late Glacial and the early Holocene. Beech increased in numbers during the second half of the Holocene. After the Late Glacial, mixed deciduous forest, rich in tree species, developed in the mountains of NW Turkey. It is assumed that in the Pleniglacial most of these species were present along the Black Sea coast, at lower elevations.