The Castlepook Incision
Archived: 19 September 2026
Abstract
Labelled 31,134 BCE, this period in Ireland belongs to unstable MIS 3, before the Last Glacial Maximum, and can only be reconstructed through uncertain dated evidence. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves a assemblage of mammoth, giant deer, reindeer, bear, hyena and other Ice Age fauna, indicating a fluctuating, open, cold environment. A marked reindeer femur may record stone-tool butchery about 33,000 years ago, potentially Ireland's earliest human trace. However, mixed cave deposits and absent associated artefacts or habitation prevent claims for settlement or continuous occupation. Glaciation and erosion obscured evidence; renewed dating, sediment and biomolecular research could resolve its significance.