The climate system has undergone major reorganization over the last 21,000 years in response to changes in Earth’s orbital parameters, glacial meltwater flow, and greenhouse gas concentrations. A growing abundance and understanding of paleoclimate proxy records alongside with increasing computational power for transient and high-resolution climate simulations have provided improved constraints on the evolution of climate during this time. These constraints are critical for placing anthropogonic climate change into the context of natural climate variability, for understanding the climate system response to external forcing, and for establishing test beds for assessing skill in climate models. This session focuses on the use of proxy records and model simulations in providing insight into climate change on all spatial and temporal scales over the last 21,000 years. Contributions that involve multiple proxies, synthesis of proxy records, and proxy-model integrations are particularly encouraged.