Faunal Change
Archived: 9 September 2026
Approximately 33,800 years ago, Ireland lay within the climatically volatile Late Pleistocene, but neither its conditions nor ice extent can be fixed. Competing reconstructions suggest advancing ice alongside patches of open, treeless habitat supporting cold-adapted fauna. Organic deposits and cave assemblages document wetlands, grassland and mammals including deer, giant deer and spotted hyaena. Castlepook Cave provides MIS 3 evidence, revising animal chronologies and suggesting local disappearances before the Last Glacial Maximum. A marked reindeer bone may indicate an early human visit, but no secure settlement evidence exists. Uncertain sea routes, glacial erosion and records define this changing, intermittently habitable island.