BIRM-166’s Moss Register
Archived: 20 September 2026
Abstract
Around 31,033 BCE, Ireland lay within the unstable later Pleistocene, approaching renewed extensive glaciation. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves wetland sediments between ice deposits, dated broadly to 35,000–37,000 calibrated years BP. Its plant remains indicate treeless, cold, mossy tundra and freshwater habitats. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, contains varied Ice Age fauna, including reindeer, mammoth and predators. A cut-like mark on a reindeer bone may indicate early human carcass processing, but remains disputed because context is poor and no camp, tools or hearth accompany it. Later ice erased much evidence, leaving only fragmentary records of changing environments, animals and possible human visits.