Derryvree’s Mossy Fen
Archived: 21 September 2026
Labelled 30,918 BCE retrospectively, this period belongs to MIS 3 and cannot support year-specific Irish history. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves freshwater silts between glacial tills, radiocarbon dated broadly to 36,900–31,700 calibrated years before present. Its fossils indicate ice-free, treeless tundra with wetlands, mosses, sedges and hardy plants during a fluctuating cold climate. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, records MIS 3 fauna including reindeer, giant deer, mammoth and predators, but accumulated over long periods. A marked reindeer femur may indicate stone-tool butchery, although it remains uncertain. Together, these archives show a dynamic, wildlife-rich landscape, not evidence for settled human communities or institutions.