Cork’s Hyena-Den Landscape
Archived: 6 October 2026
Abstract
Around 30,190 BCE, Ireland lay in the later Marine Isotope Stage 3, approaching major glaciation but not necessarily uniformly ice-covered. Dating and ice margins remain uncertain. Glacial processes were shaping landforms later visible across Ireland. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves a time-averaged MIS 3 fauna including reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, bears, wolves and spotted hyenas. Revised dates mean these animals cannot securely be placed in this year. Treeless or sparse cold-steppe and tundra supported shifting ecological communities, while changing sea levels and ice affected dispersal. No accepted evidence demonstrates human settlement or activity; Ireland’s earliest confirmed human evidence is later.