Derryvree’s Tundra Insects
Archived: 17 September 2026
31,437 BCE is a modern label within a broad calibrated Late Pleistocene MIS 3 range, not a datable Irish year. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, freshwater silts between glacial tills preserve mosses, sedges, aquatic plants and cold-adapted insects, indicating locally ice-free, open tundra-like wetland during fluctuating glaciation. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, contains MIS 3 fauna including reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, predators and other cold-stage species, demonstrating diverse open habitats. A marked reindeer femur may suggest human butchery, but lacks secure archaeological context and cannot prove occupation. No evidence supports contemporary Irish politics, settlements, beliefs or culture. The evidence records ice-age environments.