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Choose a route into Ireland’s past: follow the newest additions, find a particular year or subject, or browse every available period.
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.
Start Exploring
Choose a route into Ireland’s past: follow the newest additions, find a particular year or subject, or browse every available period.
30420–30411 BCE
Muskeg and Mammoth
Derryvree was exposed by roadworks in 1969, which cut through a drumlin: a streamlined hill made largely of sediment deposited by glacier ice. The section revealed a thick lower till, then fine sands and organic silts formed in freshwater conditions, capped by another thick till. This sequence is unusually valuable. It proves that ice had occupied the locality, that an interval followed in which water, sediment and biological remains accumulated, and that ice later returned or advanced sufficiently to seal the deposits below glacial debris.
