AbstractThe European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) includes a comprehensive pre-site survey on the inland ice plateau of Dronning Maud Land. This paper focuses on the investigation of the ¹⁸O content of shallow firn and ice cores. These cores were dated by profiles derived from dielectric-profiling and continuous flow analysis measurements. the individual records were stacked in order to obtain composite chronologies of ¹⁸O contents and accumulation rates with enhanced signal-to-noise variance ratios. These chronologies document variations in the last 200 and 1000 years. The¹⁸O contents and accumulation rates decreased in the 19th century and increased during the 20th century. Using the empirical relationships between stable isotopes, accumulation rates and the 10 m firn temperature, the variation of both parameters can be explained by the same temperature history. But other causes for these variations, such as the build-up of the snow cover, cannot be excluded. A marked feature of the 1000 year chronology occurs during the period AD 1180–1530 when the ¹⁸Ocontents remains below the long-term mean. Cross-correlation analyses between five cores from the Weddell Sea region and Dronning Maud Land show that ¹⁸O records can in some periods be positively correlated and in others negatively correlated, indicating a complex climatic history in time and space.