For 30 years, the “Kerry cow” bones were seen as proof of early farming in Ireland; scientists now say they belonged to a bear and wild boar
For more than three decades, a collection of animal bones from Ireland’s Ferriter’s Cove was considered some of the earliest evidence that farming had reached the island. But new research has now overturned that interpretation. According to University College Dublin (UCD), bones once identified as cattle have instead been identified as belonging to a bear and wild boar. The finding challenges a long-standing understanding of Ireland’s transition from hunter-gatherer societies to farming communities. It also highlights how modern scientific techniques can reveal new information from archaeological remains that were excavated and studied decades ago.
The mystery of the “Kerry cow” bones
The bones were discovered during excavations in the 1980s and 1990s at Ferriter’s Cove, a small bay on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. They were associated with the Late Mesolithic period, a time when people on the island still lived primarily as hunter-gatherers. Because they had been identified as cattle bones, archaeologists regarded them as particularly important. Domestic cattle would have indicated contact between Ireland’s Mesolithic communities and Neolithic farming societies elsewhere in Europe.For more than 30 years, the remains were therefore used as evidence that farming communities or their animals had reached Ireland before agriculture became firmly established there. The bones became informally known as the “Kerry cow” remains.
Scientists take another look
The original identification was not as certain as its long-standing importance might suggest. Researchers from University College Dublin and University College Cork recently revisited the specimens and found that their original classification was ambiguous. Instead of relying only on the physical appearance and shape of the fragments, the researchers used a modern technique called Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS.The method examines proteins preserved in the collagen of ancient bones. Different animal species have distinctive protein patterns, allowing scientists to identify remains even when the bones are fragmented or lack obvious features. The team sent samples to a laboratory at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research in Lille for analysis. The results showed that the supposedly bovine remains actually came from a bear and wild boar. That finding removed what had been considered a crucial piece of evidence for the early arrival of domestic animals in Ireland.
Why the discovery matters
The significance of the discovery goes far beyond correcting the identity of a few old bones. For decades, archaeologists had used the supposed cattle remains to support the idea that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Ireland had interacted with Neolithic farming communities elsewhere in Europe before 4000 B.C.E. If the bones were not cattle, that evidence disappears.According to UCD researchers, the new findings mean there is currently no archaeological evidence that domesticated cattle, and by extension early farming communities, had reached or influenced Ireland before 4000 B.C.E. This could require archaeologists to reconsider when and how the transition from hunting and gathering to farming occurred on the island.The change is particularly important because the arrival of farming was a major transformation in European prehistory. Farming involved not only the cultivation of crops and keeping of domesticated animals, but also major changes in settlement, diet, technology and social organisation. The Irish story of that transformation now appears less straightforward than previously thought.
The surprising identity of the bear
The researchers have established that at least some of the remains came from a bear, but they have not yet determined exactly which type. Scientists are carrying out further analysis to determine whether the bear remains belonged to brown bears or polar bears. This question is significant because brown bears once lived across Ireland before eventually becoming extinct there.The discovery could therefore contribute not only to archaeological research into farming but also to the study of Ireland’s ancient wildlife.
A lesson from old collections
The story also demonstrates how modern scientific techniques can transform interpretations of archaeological discoveries made decades ago. The bones were not newly discovered. Researchers simply returned to material that had already been excavated and preserved. With technologies unavailable to the original investigators, they were able to ask new questions of the old specimens.Martin Moucheron, an archaeologist at University College Dublin who led the research, emphasised that re-examining existing archaeological material with new techniques could reveal evidence that earlier researchers were unable to recognise. The “Kerry cow” story is therefore a reminder that archaeology is not always about finding something new in the ground. Sometimes, a major discovery can come from taking a second look at something that has been sitting in a collection for decades.In this case, that second look transformed supposed cattle bones into evidence of ancient wildlife, and potentially removed one of the key pieces of evidence supporting an early connection between Ireland’s hunter-gatherers and Europe’s first farming communities.
