BIRM-166’s Intertill Testimony
Archived: 19 September 2026
Labelled 31,185 BCE only as a modern approximation, this period falls in later Marine Isotope Stage 3, before the Last Glacial Maximum. Ireland experienced unstable, locally ice-free yet severe periglacial conditions. At Derryvree, Fermanagh, freshwater sediments between tills, dated by Birm-166, preserve evidence of treeless wet tundra, pools, cold-adapted plants and insects. Castlepook Cave, Cork, contains diverse pre-maximum fauna, including mammoth, reindeer, giant deer and predators. A possibly cut-marked reindeer femur may indicate mobile Upper Palaeolithic visitors, but cannot prove settlement. Later glaciation destroyed or buried evidence; Ireland’s human presence remains uncertain, whereas its environmental and faunal history is substantial.