Hyaena Land at Castlepook
Around 31,810 BCE, Ireland stood within a rapidly changing Ice Age environment. Expanding glaciers, tundra vegetation and shifting freshwater habitats shaped the island, while surviving evidence comes from caves, sediments, pollen, animal remains and radiocarbon dating. Castlepook Cave in County Cork preserves traces of mammoth, reindeer, hyaena, bear and other cold-adapted species. One reindeer bone bearing a possible cut mark raises the possibility of an exceptionally early human visit, though the evidence remains disputed. Together, these finds reveal a dynamic landscape at the edge of advancing ice, rich in wildlife but still archaeologically uncertain and sparsely understood by modern researchers.
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