Wildcat cave find tells a tail as old as time

MYSTERY has long surrounded the existence of wildcats in ancient Ireland - but now we know for sure that they were roaming the Munster landscape more than 5,500 years ago.

- BY THOMAS LAWRANCE

The European wildcat was once widespread all over the continent, emerging around 450,000 years ago.

But many populations declined sharply in the 1700s due to habitat loss, hunting, and competition with domestic cats.

There are still wildcats living in Europe and Scotland but the latest discovery from a cave in Co Clare proves for the first time that they lived here in Ireland, too.

The bones, uncovered during an archaeological dig in Glencurran Cave in the Burren, date to around 3600BC, during the Neolithic or New Stone Age period.

Prehistoric cat bones have been found in Ireland before, including at Newgrange.

But none of them have been radiocarbon dated before, meaning it was impossible to confirm their age or species.

It also meant that experts weren't sure whether they belonged to true wildcats or later domestic newcomers.