BIRM-166’s Sedgewater World
Archived: 26 September 2026
About 30,634 BCE, Ireland lay within the volatile cold conditions of Marine Isotope Stage 3, not yet the Last Glacial Maximum. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves freshwater silts and organic deposits between two glacial tills, indicating a temporary ice-free, treeless wetland of pools, sedges, mosses, cold-adapted plants and insects. Its BIRM-166 radiocarbon date calibrates broadly, precluding precision for any single year. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, records diverse Ice-Age fauna, including reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, predators and small mammals, though deposits are mixed. A cut-marked reindeer bone may indicate brief human activity, but no evidence confirms permanent settlement, society or economy there.