Before Maximum Ice
It is important not to turn the number 31,950 BCE into false precision. Radiocarbon laboratories report ages in radiocarbon years before present, with statistical uncertainty; calibration against independently dated records translates these into calendar ranges that can be broad, especially this far back. Geological evidence is often less precise still, dating an advance, retreat, sediment layer or exposed rock surface within centuries or millennia. Consequently, “Ireland in 31,950 BCE” means Ireland in the vicinity of a notional point in time, not a documented year.