Approaching Last Glacial Maximum
Archived: 9 September 2026
31,935 BCE is not a precisely recoverable Irish date but falls within Marine Isotope Stage 3, a fluctuating cold period preceding the Last Glacial Maximum. Ireland supported open steppe-tundra environments, coastlines and diverse Ice-Age fauna. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, preserves bones of mammoth, giant deer, reindeer, hyena and animals, although its long-accumulated deposits cannot establish contemporaneous species or human activity. A reported stone-tool cut mark on a reindeer femur suggests a possible early Upper Palaeolithic visit, but not permanent settlement. No evidence supports farming, polities, warfare or symbolic culture. Approaching glaciation subsequently transformed landscapes and obscured much potential archaeological evidence.