Derryvree Beneath Two Tills
Archived: 16 September 2026
Abstract
31,526 BCE is an imprecise modern label for a Late Glacial interval in Marine Isotope Stage 3. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, freshwater sediments between two tills, dated broadly to 36,900–31,700 calibrated BP, preserve evidence of cold, treeless tundra wetlands during an ice-free episode. Comparable Castlepook Cave remains in County Cork indicate diverse fauna, including mammoth, reindeer and predators. A marked reindeer bone may suggest brief Upper Palaeolithic human activity, but does not prove settlement. No polities, culture, trade or permanent occupation can be identified. Lower sea levels altered routes, while later ice-sheet expansion buried or destroyed much evidence across Ireland.