Bear bone rewrites human history in Ireland

Butchered kneecap puts people on island earlier than thought

bear bone

 IRELAND’S OLDEST  Stone-tool marks on a brown bear’s kneecap provide the earliest evidence of humans in Ireland, between about 12,800 and 12,600 years ago.

James Connolly

In a bit of Irish luck, archaeologists have found evidence of the Emerald Isle’s earliest known humans.