Doneraile’s Faunal Corridor
Archived: 9 September 2026
Around 31,897 BCE, a modern label corresponding approximately to 33,800 calibrated years before present, Ireland lay within the variable later Pleistocene, before the Last Glacial Maximum. Castlepook Cave near Doneraile, County Cork, preserves Ireland’s richest long-term faunal archive, containing mammoth, giant deer, reindeer, bears, hyaenas and other animals. These remains show intermittent habitats for substantial mammals, but cave processes and early excavation complicate interpretation. A possibly cut-marked reindeer bone may indicate very early human activity, yet remains unconfirmed. No secure contemporary settlements, tools, hearths or human remains exist. Ice reshaped landscapes, leaving cave deposits as fragmentary records of environmental change.