Doneraile’s Faunal Window
The numbered date falls well before the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum. Reconstructions of the British–Irish Ice Sheet place its maximum extent considerably later, broadly during the period around 26,000–19,000 years ago, although the timing, thickness and local limits of ice remain subjects of active research. Ireland was therefore not simply an island buried beneath a single unchanging sheet of ice in 30,844 BCE. Conditions varied across regions and through time: ice advanced and retreated, while exposed lowlands, uplands and coastal plains could support cold-adapted plants and animals during less severe intervals.