Mosses Between Fermanagh Tills
Archived: 17 September 2026
Around 31,364 BCE, Ireland lay within the climatically unstable Late Pleistocene, not a recoverable historical year. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, freshwater organic beds between glacial tills reveal a temporary non-glacial interval of tundra-like wetlands, mosses, sedges, insects and shallow pools under severe periglacial conditions. Cave faunas, especially at Castlepook, County Cork, demonstrate repeated presence of mammoth, reindeer, giant deer, bears, hyaenas and other cold-stage animals in open, largely treeless terrain. A marked reindeer bone may indicate Upper Palaeolithic human activity, but cannot securely prove settlement. Glacial change, uncertain dating and fragmentary deposits preclude political, social or year-specific narratives with confidence.