Welcome to Emerald Archives
Emerald Archives presents Ireland’s story one reference year at a time, from the deep prehistoric past to the modern era. Each article explores the evidence, people, places and developments associated with a particular year and places them within their wider historical setting. The collection brings together archaeology, politics, society, religion, culture, conflict, everyday life and changing landscapes in one continuously expanding timeline. New articles appear here as the archive grows. You can also explore the full Irish History Timeline, search the archive directly, or use Explore to move through the collection by period and subject.
31070–31061 BCE
Castlepook’s Faunal Borderland
31,070 BCE is a modern label for a Late Pleistocene, climatically unstable Ireland approaching glaciation. Evidence indicates varied local conditions rather than uniform ice cover. Derryvree silts in Fermanagh preserve treeless tundra wetland plants, showing that cold, productive habitats existed between glacial episodes. Castlepook Cave in Cork yielded reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, predators and other cold-stage fauna, though mixed deposits complicate interpretation. A marked reindeer bone may indicate human butchery around 33,000 radiocarbon years ago, but remains unconfirmed without associated tools or settlements. Changing sea levels affected possible movement routes. The period’s secure history is environmental, not political or cultural.
