Significance Last Glacial millennial-timescale warming phases well-recorded in Greenland ice cores are relevant across the Northern Hemisphere. However, dating limitations in loess deposits inhibited characterizing their impact on the European Great Plain. Here, the radiocarbon dating of a large set of earthworm calcite granule samples from the Nussloch reference loess sequence (Rhine Valley, Germany) led to a straightforward chronological distinction of all soil horizons. Resulting correlations with Greenland interstadials between 50 and 20 ka also revealed more complex climate dynamics than interpreted from Greenland δ 18 O records. This study is a fundamental contribution to understanding links between mid- and high-latitude climate changes and their spatial and temporal impact on paleoenvironments and prehistoric population settlement in Europe.