Mammoth Cave’s Cold Corridor
Archived: 15 September 2026
At the notional date of 31,676 BCE, Ireland lay within the climatically unstable later Marine Isotope Stage 3, before the last British–Irish Ice Sheet reached maximum extent. Derryvree sediments in County Fermanagh record a cold, open, waterlogged interval between glaciations, supporting sparse wetland vegetation. Castlepook Cave in County Cork preserves diverse cold-stage fauna, including mammoth, reindeer, giant deer, lemmings, predators and hyenas, though its bones accumulated across long periods. A cut-marked reindeer femur may indicate brief human presence, but remains contested and isolated. No evidence establishes settlement or society. Subsequent ice advance buried, disturbed and destroyed much of this record.