Mammoths Above the Awbeg
Archived: 19 September 2026
31,193 BCE denotes a modern chronological point within Marine Isotope Stage 3, not a documented Irish year. Before the Last Glacial Maximum, Ireland experienced variable ice cover and cold, open tundra-like wetlands, evidenced at Derryvree, Greenagho and Aghnadarragh. Castlepook Cave in County Cork preserves a rich, intermittently accumulated fauna including mammoth, reindeer, giant deer, bear, wolf, Arctic fox, lemmings and hyaena, demonstrating ecological links with Britain and Europe. A cut-marked reindeer femur may indicate brief human carcass processing, but cannot prove settlement or occupation. Evidence remains fragmentary, dating broad, and interpretations may change through improved excavation, analysis and ancient-DNA research.