We calculate the temperature distribution with depth at the Dome C ice divide, East Antarctica, for a number of vertical strain rate functions; assuming two-dimensional flow. To solve the heat equation, we use the Dome C oxygen isotope profile and radar data to specify the surface and basal boundary conditions, respectively. Two different sets of simple, monotonic polynomials are used as strain rate test functions. For a net surface warming of about 9 ¿C through the Wisconsinan-Holocene climatic transition, we find that the best agreement to the measured 800-m Dome C temperature profile results from a vertical strain rate of the form (1-z/H) p, with H the ice thickness and p≂2.5. Using dated horizons in the oxygen isotope profile obtained by cross correlation with a marine sediment core, we find virtually no change in accumulation rate at Dome C since the end of the Wisconsinan glacial.