Fermanagh’s Intertill Mosses
Archived: 17 September 2026
Abstract
31,499 BCE is best understood as a broad later Marine Isotope Stage 3 interval, not a datable Irish year. Ireland experienced unstable Ice Age conditions, with shifting ice margins, lowered seas and locally varied open, tundra-like habitats. At Derryvree, Fermanagh, freshwater organic sediments between tills preserve evidence of sedges, mosses, herbs, shrubs and pools during an ice-free episode. Crag Cave calcite indicates intermittent milder conditions. Castlepook Cave documents reindeer, mammoth, giant deer and predators. A cut-marked reindeer bone may suggest human activity, but lacks secure context. Evidence supports dynamic environments and mobile fauna, not settlement, society or certain historical events.