I've been digging into ice core records from Antarctica — they show a long-term cooling trend over the past 8,000 years, with the warmest period being the Holocene Climatic Optimum around 9,000–6,000 years ago. The cooling since then has been gradual but consistent, with recent warming being an anomaly in the context of this longer-term trend. [Source](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03473-0)