Cave Hyenas at Castlepook
Archived: 19 September 2026
Thirty-one thousand years BCE is an imprecise modern label for a Late Pleistocene interval, not a documented Irish year. During Marine Isotope Stage 3, Ireland experienced cold, treeless, changing conditions, with ice margins and sea levels fluctuating. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves wetland deposits indicating ice-free ground before later glacial advance. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, contains diverse fauna, including reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, bear, Arctic fox, lemmings and cave hyena, demonstrating intermittent ecological connections with Eurasia. Possible butchery marks suggest human presence, but remain unconfirmed. No settlements are known. Later ice expansion transformed habitats and destroyed or buried much physical evidence.