Derryvree’s Periglacial Seedbank
Archived: 18 September 2026
Rather than documenting a single year, evidence for Ireland around 31,296 BCE describes a variable later MIS 3 environment. At Derryvree, Fermanagh, organic freshwater sediments between tills indicate a locally ice-free tundra wetland with mosses, sedges, low shrubs and cold-adapted plants. Castlepook Cave, Cork, preserves a long-accumulated fauna of mammoth, giant deer, reindeer, predators and scavengers, demonstrating intermittent access for cold-stage mammals. Ice conditions, sea levels and routes changed repeatedly, preventing island-wide conclusions. A possibly stone-tool-marked reindeer bone may indicate brief Upper Palaeolithic human activity, but lacks contextual evidence of settlement. No states, agriculture or named peoples can be claimed.