Derryvree’s Fossil Wetland
Archived: 19 September 2026
31,132 BCE cannot denote an Irish year, but falls within unstable Marine Isotope Stage 3. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, freshwater sediments between glacial tills record an ice-free interval of cold, treeless wetland, with mosses, bogbean, grasses, sedges and sparse tundra vegetation. These deposits demonstrate climatic fluctuation before the Last Glacial Maximum, rather than continuous ice cover. Cave remains at Castlepook, County Cork, indicate fauna including mammoth, reindeer, giant deer, bear, wolf, Arctic fox, lemmings and hyaena. A reindeer bone may indicate human processing, but cannot prove settlement. Ireland remained connected to north-west Europe before glaciation transformed and obscured its evidence.