Early Animal Butchery
Archived: 9 September 2026
Abstract
At roughly 31,931 BCE, Ireland lay in the climatically unstable Late Pleistocene, before the maximum extent of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet. Its cold, changing landscapes probably included open grassland, tundra, bare ground and restricted woodland, supporting mammals such as reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, bears, wolves, hyaenas and Arctic foxes. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves crucial but imperfect faunal evidence. A reindeer femur reportedly bears a stone-tool cut mark, suggesting possible human butchery around 31,000 BCE. However, disturbed old deposits and the absence of settlements preclude claims of permanent occupation. Later glaciation and rising seas obscured sites; research remains necessary.