Maguirebridge’s Tundra Record
Archived: 10 September 2026
Abstract
Around 31,836 BCE, Ireland lay in the later Marine Isotope Stage 3, before the Last Glacial Maximum, but evidence cannot describe a precise year or society. Derryvree, County Fermanagh, preserves silts dated broadly to 36,900–31,700 calibrated years BP, showing cold, treeless, wet tundra with hardy plants and seasonal periglacial conditions. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, records diverse fauna, including mammoth and reindeer, although species did not necessarily coexist. A possibly cut-marked reindeer bone may indicate brief human activity, but no settlement is proven. Lower seas enabled changing connections with Britain and Europe before advancing ice erased much evidence from this period.