Castlepook Reindeer Femur
Archived: 8 September 2026
About 31,994 BCE, Ireland lay in the climatically unstable Late Pleistocene, before the Last Glacial Maximum. Expanding ice had not covered all regions: north-central and southern areas retained exposed ground, while low sea levels reshaped coasts. Castlepook Cave in County Cork preserves fauna including reindeer, mammoth, giant deer, predators and cold-adapted species, indicating open steppe-tundra habitats. A reindeer femur, dated near 31,000 BCE, bears a possible stone-tool butchery mark, but disturbed deposits and absent associated artefacts prevent confirmation of human occupation. Secure Irish human evidence is later. Glacial expansion subsequently shaped terrain, leaving this era ecologically significant yet archaeologically uncertain.