Reindeer Bone at Mammoth Cave
Archived: 9 September 2026
Abstract
About 31,871 BCE is not a meaningful historical year but an approximate label for later MIS 3, roughly 34,000 calibrated years ago. Castlepook, or Mammoth, Cave in County Cork yielded a reindeer femur reportedly bearing stone-tool butchery marks. If confirmed, it may indicate a brief Upper Palaeolithic visit, not permanent settlement. Early excavation, mixed deposits and dating uncertainty require caution. The cave’s fauna, including reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, predators and lemmings, demonstrates a cold, open, changing landscape supporting animals before the glacial maximum. Ireland’s earliest secure human evidence remains a cut-marked bear bone from Clare, dated about 12,810–12,590 calibrated BP.