Castlepook’s Palaeolithic Prospect
Archived: 18 September 2026
Abstract
Around 31,252 BCE, Ireland lay within the variable cold conditions of Marine Isotope Stage 3, without recorded peoples, settlements or institutions. Cave fauna at Castlepook, County Cork, including reindeer, mammoth and hyaena, indicates diverse cold-stage habitats. A reindeer femur bears an incision interpreted as a possible stone-tool cut, suggesting a brief Upper Palaeolithic human visit, but not permanent occupation. Poor early excavation records and absent associated tools require caution. Fermanagh wetland sediments and Kerry speleothems show fluctuating climates before expanding ice sheets. Secure evidence of human presence comes far later, while sustained settlement began in the Mesolithic after 8000 BCE.