Carden’s Deep Femoral Mark
Archived: 30 September 2026
Abstract
Around 30,449 BCE, Ireland has no historical record, and the date can only be placed within broad Late Pleistocene environmental chronologies. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves freshwater sediments between glacial tills, dated broadly to 34,950–29,750 BCE. Its plants, insects and sediments indicate cold, open tundra with productive wetlands during an interstadial interval. Changing ice, low seas and terrain shaped movement but prove no route. At Castlepook Cave, County Cork, a reindeer femur possibly bears a stone-tool cut mark, suggesting human activity around 33,000 years ago. However, no settlement, tools or social evidence confirms occupation; farming, trade and political identities remain undocumented.