Derryvree’s Arctic Water-Milfoil
Archived: 17 September 2026
31,399 BCE is a modern label for later Marine Isotope Stage 3, not a recoverable Irish calendar year. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves freshwater organic sediments between glacial tills, indicating a cold, treeless periglacial wetland during an ice-free local interval. Pollen, plants and insects document shallow pools and low-growing vegetation. Climate and ice varied, while lower sea levels did not necessarily create continental routes. Castlepook Cave records diverse cold-stage fauna, including mammoth, reindeer and predators. A marked reindeer femur may indicate brief human carcass processing, but cannot prove settlement, society, culture or permanent occupation. Evidence chiefly reveals a harsh, changing environment.