Derryvree’s Periglacial Record
Archived: 19 September 2026
Abstract
The modern date 31,199 BCE cannot identify a recorded Irish event, but broadly falls within Marine Isotope Stage 3. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, organic freshwater deposits between glacial tills indicate a cold, treeless wetland tundra, with pools, mosses, sedges, alpine plants and beetles, during an interval between ice advances. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves mixed remains of reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, predators and other cold-adapted fauna, demonstrating intermittent access from Britain or Europe. A modified reindeer bone may indicate human visitation, but no settlement is proven. Later ice expansion reshaped landscapes and destroyed or buried evidence in many Irish places.