The Atlantic Margin and the North Sea: Introduction

Peeters, Hans; Sturt, Fraser; Westley, Kieran

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37367-2_7

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The footprints of humans and animals preserved in the geological record provide a range of information including past activity, palaeoecology, behaviour, population structure and anatomy (Roberts et al 1996;Lockley et al 2008;Peeters et al 2020). To date, human/hominin footprints and animal tracks dating to the Quaternary era have been found in various locations across the world (Bennett and Morse 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene animal tracks from the intertidal zone in the west of Ireland

Westley¹,

Cooper²,

Plets³

2023

Biology and Environment

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During the winter storms of 2019, a deposit of organic-rich clay was fortuitously exposed in the intertidal zone of a beach near Streedagh (Co. Sligo). Impressed in the clay surface were a series of small (< 10cm) paired indentations arranged in rough alignments. Based on their size and shape they are suggestive of animal tracks; possibly red deer but not excluding sheep/goat. Animal tracks in Holocene sediments are well-documented from intertidal contexts in Great Britain but, to date, none have been reported from Ireland. This paper describes these tracks and discusses their chronological and paleoenvironmental context. Radiocarbon dating of the clay surface places it between ~7300-6300 cal BP, though for taphonomic reasons the tracks are argued to have been made later in the Holocene: probably after 5800 and before 4000 cal BP. As such, the deposit provides an example of palaeo-environmental evidence which can be found even under the high-energy conditions characteristic of the Irish coast, and also hints at the possibility that Holocene ichnological evidence can also be found here.

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