Derryvree’s Dwarf-Willow Wetland
Archived: 20 September 2026
Around 31,098 BCE, a modern approximation within Marine Isotope Stage 3, Ireland experienced unstable Late Pleistocene conditions before the Last Glacial Maximum. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, organic sediments between glacial tills preserve evidence of an ice-free, treeless wetland with sedges, grasses, dwarf willow, mosses, pools and cold-adapted insects. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, records reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, bears, wolves, hyaenas and other fauna, though its mixed deposits cannot represent one community. These sites show varied open habitats amid growing glacial influence. Human presence remains unproven: a possible butchered bone is inconclusive, while secure evidence dates much later in caves there.