County Clare hosts the oldest known evidence of human activity in Ireland. The patella of a bear, which was subject to butchering close to the time of death, was found in the Alice and Gwendoline Cave, near Edenvale House, ClareCastle. The bone features a number of linear-cut marks, and has been dated to circa 10,500 BC, from the Paleoithic era. This discovery, publicized in 2017, pushed back Ireland's occupation by 2,500 years - what was previously regarded as the oldest site of occupation was the Mesolithic site of Mount Sandel, County LondonDerry. This bear bone was discovered in 1903 during an archaeological excavation but was not studied until over a century later.

This is a man standing on a Poulnabrone Dolmen