BIRM-166 Radiocarbon Determination
Archived: 23 September 2026
At 30,796 BCE, Ireland has no event record; the date is a modern label within the Late Pleistocene. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, provides the nearest evidence: organic wetland sediments between tills, radiocarbon dated BIRM-166, show a locally ice-free interval roughly 36,900–31,700 calibrated years BP. Its treeless tundra vegetation indicates cold, seasonal conditions. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves diverse MIS 3 fauna, including mammoth, reindeer, giant deer and predators, although deposits are disturbed and accumulated over time. A marked reindeer femur may suggest human carcass processing, but cannot prove settlement. Ireland faced expanding ice, without evidence of permanent communities, agriculture or institutions.