We present a comprehensive approach (including field data, remote sensing and ananisotropic ice-flow model) to characterize Halvfarryggen ice dome in coastal Dronning Maud Land,Antarctica. This is a potential drill site for the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences, which hasidentified the need for ice cores covering atmospheric conditions during the last few millennia. Wederive the surface topography, the ice stratigraphy from radar data, and accumulation rates which varyfrom 400 to 1670kgm–2a–1due to preferred wind directions and changing surface slope. Thestratigraphy shows anticlines and synclines beneath the divides. We transfer Dansgaard–Johnsen age–depth scales from the flanks along isochrones to the divide in the upper 20–50% of the ice thickness andshow that they compare well with the results of a full-Stokes, anisotropic ice-flow model which predicts(1) 11kaBPice at 90% of the ice thickness, (2) a temporally stable divide for at least 2700–4500 years,(3) basal temperatures below the melting point (–128C to –58C) and (4) a highly developed crystalorientation fabric (COF). We suggest drilling into the apices of the deep anticlines, providing a goodcompromise between record length and temporal resolution and also facilitating studies of the interplayof anisotropic COF and ice flow