Fermanagh Pools, Cork Reindeer
Archived: 17 September 2026
31,398 BCE is a notional date within the climatically unstable Middle Midlandian, not a recordable historical year. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, freshwater organic deposits between glacial tills document an ice-free interval of cold, tundra-like wetlands, though their broad dates cannot map conditions across Ireland. Related sites suggest local non-glacial terrain. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves Marine Isotope Stage 3 fauna, including reindeer, hyaena and mammoth, but cave processes prevent a single contemporaneous reconstruction. A marked reindeer femur may indicate early human butchery, yet no settlement exists. Evidence reveals changing Ice Age environments, animals and possible transient human contact without societies.