With the improvements in the techniques of radiocarbon dating since the 1990s and the pretreatment of bone samples, it has become apparent that some of the radiocarbon dates from Irish caves such as Castlepook Cave may not be as accurate as previously determined. The faunal remains and sediments within Castlepook Cave are important as this cave is one of only two caves in Ireland in which both pre‐ and post‐Last Glacial Maximum sediments containing faunal remains are found. In this study, samples of identified bones were re‐dated from this cave as well as two others (Foley and Shandon caves) from the same region in the south‐southeast of Ireland. The new dates from Castlepook Cave disclosed results that were significantly older by between c. 5000 and 12 000 radiocarbon years. This was not as apparent in dates obtained from Foley and Shandon caves, where the new dates were older by c. 4000 radiocarbon years on average. The results imply a much older presence of certain mammals during MIS 3 in Ireland and suggest that certain species, notably giant deer and spotted hyaena, may have become locally extirpated before the Last Glacial Maximum, around 40 cal. ka BP.

中文翻译：

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对爱尔兰南部海洋同位素第3阶段动物区系放射性碳测年的重新考虑

自1990年代以来，随着放射性碳测年技术的改进和骨样品的预处理，很明显，来自爱尔兰洞穴（如Castlepook洞穴）的某些放射性碳年代可能不如先前确定的准确。Castlepook洞穴内的动物群残留物和沉积物很重要，因为该洞穴是爱尔兰仅有的两个冰川前和之后冰川期发现含动物群残留物的最大沉积物的洞穴之一。在这项研究中，从该洞穴以及爱尔兰东南东南部同一地区的另外两个（Foley和Shandon洞穴）中提取了已鉴定骨骼的样本。Castlepook Cave的新日期披露的结果比C的早得多。5000和12000年的放射性碳年。这在从Foley和Shandon洞穴获得的日期中并不明显，在这些日期中，新日期比c大。平均4000年放射性碳。结果表明爱尔兰MIS 3期间某些哺乳动物的年龄要大得多，这表明某些物种，特别是巨型鹿和斑点鬣狗，可能已在最后一次冰河盛大期（约40 cal）之前被局部灭绝。ka BP。