New bone analysis challenges long-held theory on farming's arrival in Ireland and Great Britain
New research led by University College Dublin has rewritten a key chapter in Irish prehistory, revealing that bones long thought to mark the beginning of farming in Ireland belong to bear and wild boar, not cattle.
A groundbreaking analysis of ancient bone remains has overturned a pivotal belief about the arrival of farming in Ireland and Great Britain. For more than three decades, bones discovered at Ferriter's Cove on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry have been considered the earliest evidence of Neolithic farming communities interacting with Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
These bone fragments, long assumed to be from domesticated cattle, have been dubbed the "Kerry Cow" and used to challenge previous theories about the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Ireland. However, a team of researchers from University College Dublin has now identified the remains as belonging to a bear and wild boar, not cattle, through advanced biomolecular analysis.
This revelation, published in the journal PAST, casts doubt on the idea that early farming communities had established links with Mesolithic communities in Ireland before 4000 BC. The study, led by Dr. Martin Moucheron at UCD, emphasizes the importance of revisiting historical sites with modern techniques to challenge long-standing assumptions about prehistoric societies.
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