Calcite, Tundra, and Castlepook
Archived: 16 September 2026
Around 31,606 BCE, Ireland lay within the climatically unstable MIS 3, before the later Last Glacial Maximum. Changing ice margins, lowered seas and uncertain land routes created a variable north-west European landscape. Derryvree sediments in Fermanagh indicate cold, treeless tundra-like wetlands with freshwater pools and seasonal freezing. Castlepook Cave preserves mixed remains of mammoth, deer, reindeer and predators, demonstrating diverse cold-stage fauna, though not a single contemporaneous community. Crag Cave calcite records milder interstadial episodes. A possibly cut-marked Castlepook reindeer bone may indicate brief human activity, but no secure settlement evidence exists. Later glaciation severely damaged Ireland's overall archaeological record.