Derryvree’s Moss and Silt
Archived: 10 September 2026
Abstract
The modern label 31,846 BCE denotes a broad MIS 3 Ice Age interval, not a datable Irish event. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, buried organic silts, pollen, plants and insects record cold, treeless tundra wetlands, indicating that parts of Ireland supported freshwater habitats before major ice-sheet expansion. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves disturbed but important remains of reindeer, mammoth, bears, wolves, lemmings and other fauna, though species were not necessarily contemporaneous. A cut-marked reindeer femur may indicate Upper Palaeolithic butchery around 31,000 BCE, yet cannot prove settlement. No secure tools, hearths, dwellings or human remains exist. Possible human presence remains unconfirmed.