Northwest Europe: 04 IRELAND (Hibernia), Palaeolithic Period (12.5-11.7 kya) 

From 15 kya the country was largely open tundra. About 14 kya the ice sheets started to retreat northwards and as the climate warmed there was an expansion of existing vegetation and an influx of both flora and fauna. After a short return to cold conditions a new warming period began 11.7 kya during which grasses, flowers and herbs were established in open areas. Fauna included bears, Irish deer, foxes, Irish hare, banded lemmings, reindeer and wolves. About 11 kya there appears to have been a temporary return of the ice with the consequent lowering of water level and the return of the land bridges between Ireland, Britain and continental Europe.

Ireland’s remoteness on the northwest edge of the continent meant that it became one of the last places in Europe to be occupied by humans. The earliest stone tools recovered in Ireland have been shown to be uniquely Irish in design and many common European mammals (wild cattle, red deer) never arrived. The earliest evidence of humans in Ireland is from the Alice and Gwendoline Cave, County Clare, Munster, where clear cut marks of butchering found on a brown bear patella have been dated to around 10,500 BC.