We examine the Atlantic maritime vegetation history from Praia Rei Cortiço, Portugal, to understand natural vegetation patterns and infer climatic conditions during the transition from the last interglacial to early glacial periods. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of quartz grains from sediments surrounding the 1.3‐m‐thick organic deposit date the section to within 120–89 ka. Pollen data were used to reconstruct the v...