High-resolution planktonic foraminiferal and oxygen isotope records are presented from a Mediterranean deep marine succession, dated astronomically between 12.12 and 9.78 Ma. Planktonic and benthic oxygen isotope records are punctuated by two episodes of Δ18O increase, which have astronomical ages of 11.4 and 10.4 Ma and correspond to the Mi5 and Mi6 events of Miller et al. <1991a>. These ice growth events coincide with low-amplitude variations in the 1.2 Myr obliquity cycle and are accompanied by significant faunal changes in the Mediterranean, such as the arrival of neogloboquadrinids, the increase in abundance of the G. apertura-G. obliquus group, and the areal differentiation between N. atlantica and N. acostaensis. Short-term variations in the planktonic foraminiferal and oxygen isotope records correspond to dominantly precession-controlled sedimentary cycles. Features of the sapropel/gray marl layers indicate that the short-term astronomically controlled circum-Mediterranean climate changes remained basically the same over the last 12 Myr. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union