UCD research rewrites irish prehistory after cow bones identified as bear or wild boar

• Bones previously identified as cattle were actually from a bear and a wild boar
• The remains were discovered during excavations in Co Kerry
• ZooMS analysis identified the species through ancient bone collagen proteins
• The research removes evidence for domesticated cattle in Ireland before 4,000 BC
• Further analysis will determine if the bear remains were brown or polar bears

Scientists have made a remarkable new discovery after cow bones, long believed to have marked the advent of farming in Ireland, have now been identified as belonging to a bear or wild boar. The new research, led by University College Dublin, rewrites a significant chapter in Irish prehistory. For more than 30 years, the animal remains discovered during excavations in Co Kerry were thought to be bone fragments belonging to cattle, dating back to the end of the Mesolithic period (8,000-4,000 BCE).

The find at Cuan an Chaoil on the Dingle Peninsula was considered to be the earliest evidence for the presence of domesticated farm animals for the islands of Ireland and Britain. The new findings are part of a Research Ireland-funded postdoctoral project at the UCD School of Archaeology, led by Dr Martin Moucheron, which is re-examining important Mesolithic archaeological sites using modern scientific techniques. The original archaeological material from Cuan an Chaoil, stored at UCC, was recently sent to the CNRS lab in Lille, France, to undergo biomolecular analysis.

Using ZooMS, a technique which identifies species through proteins preserved in ancient bone collagen, the results found the fragments were not from domesticated cattle but instead came from a bear and a wild boar. As a result, there is currently no archaeological evidence to support the idea that domesticated cattle or early farming communities had reached or influenced Ireland before 4,000 BC. Further analyses are currently underway to determine whether the bear remains belonged to brown bears or polar bears.

Martin Moucheron shared “For at least four millennia hunting and gathering people lived on the island, and there is a common conception that they left little trace and that we know very little about them. “There is much we can understand about Mesolithic people just by going back to the sites and material we have, and by looking at them with new eyes and new techniques and an open mind.”

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