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The history of the Late Weichselian northwestern Barents Shelf, including western Svalbard, has been investigated by provenance/sedimentologist studies of five cores from the continental shelf and slope west of Svalbard. The chronostratigraphy of the cores is based on AMS ¹⁴C dates and oxygen isotope analyses. Interpretations of the cores suggest that the ice sheets of western Svalbard and northwestern Barents Sea experienced advances and retreats in two steps. The first significant ice advance beyond the present coastline occurred ca. 22,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and was followed by an ice advance to the shelf edge ca. 18,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Ice recession from the outer shelf and the southwestern Barents Sea began 14,800 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and was followed by a second ice recession between 13,000 and 12,000 ¹⁴ C yr B.P. during which ice withdrew from the inner shelf. A minor readvance of the ice sheet on the shelf …