Derryvree’s Periglacial Pool
Archived: 10 September 2026
Centred on roughly 33,763 calibrated years BP, the article describes Ireland during unstable Marine Isotope Stage 3, not a recoverable single year. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves freshwater sediments between glacial tills, indicating locally ice-free, periglacial tundra with mosses, sedges and cold-adapted insects. Other deposits and cave calcite support fluctuating conditions before later extensive glaciation. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, records diverse cold-stage mammals, including reindeer, mammoth and hyaena, although its chronology is mixed. A modified reindeer bone may indicate human butchery, yet remains contested. Evidence supports changing habitats and animal access, not permanent human settlement or uniform island-wide conditions throughout then.