Mosses Below Maguiresbridge
Archived: 19 September 2026
Around 31,130 BCE, Ireland lay within the climatically unstable Marine Isotope Stage 3, although no evidence can date events to that precise year. At Derryvree near Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh, freshwater organic sediments between glacial tills record an ice-free interval before renewed glaciation. Mosses, sedges and cold-adapted insects indicate open, treeless tundra wetland. Comparable Fermanagh deposits and Kerry cave formations show variable conditions. Cave fauna demonstrates intermittent presence of cold-adapted mammals, but cannot reconstruct a single moment. Possible cut marks on a reindeer bone suggest early human activity, yet remain unconfirmed. Later ice advances buried these fragile environmental records across Ireland.