Evidence from a reindeer bone found in a cave in Cork suggests that there was human activity in Ireland 33,000 years ago, far earlier than previously thought.
Dr Lara Cassidy, an expert on ancient DNA and genetics at Trinity College Dublin, said bone fragments found in megalithic tombs in the Burren in Co Clare showed a direct link between two distinct groups — hunter gatherers and the farmers who built the large megalithic structures.
The Burren: Heart of Stone contains a dramatic revelation that upends existing assumptions that the first humans came to Ireland around 12,500 years ago. It reveals bones of reindeers showed evidence the animals were butchered by humans in Ireland 33,000 years ago.
The bone, a hind leg reindeer femur, establishes human activity in Ireland 33,000 years ago, more than 20,000 years earlier than previously thought.
The cave was excavated by Naturalist Richard Ussher and a team between 1904-1912. Ussher called the cave Mammoth Cave, due to the high volume of woolly mammoth remains discovered there.
