A Cutmark Near Doneraile
Archived: 19 September 2026
Around 31,129 BCE, Ireland lay within a climatically unstable phase of the Last Glacial Period, before maximum ice expansion. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves freshwater sediments indicating an ice-free, treeless tundra of pools, mosses, sedges and cold-adapted plants. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, yielded remains of mammoth, reindeer, giant deer, hyaena and other open-country animals, accumulated over extended periods. A cutmarked reindeer femur may indicate human butchery, but its interpretation remains uncertain and lacks associated tools or occupation evidence. No settlements, institutions or named peoples are known. These fragmentary records reveal a changing Pleistocene landscape intermittently supporting wildlife and possibly mobile people.