Mammoth Cave Assemblage
Archived: 9 September 2026
Abstract
At 31,944 BCE, Ireland was entering a prolonged cold phase, although the extent of advancing ice remains uncertain and the island was not necessarily wholly glaciated. Lower sea levels altered coastlines, but no secure land route is known. Castlepook, or Mammoth, Cave in County Cork preserves Ireland’s richest pre-Last Glacial Maximum vertebrate assemblage, including mammoth, reindeer, giant deer, predators and lemmings, accumulated across many millennia rather than one moment. These animals indicate changing open steppe-tundra environments. Human presence is unproven: possible butcher marks require confirmation, while secure evidence dates only to about 12,800 years ago. Later ice obscured earlier evidence.