An algorithm-guided survey of eight caves in southwest Ireland found art dated to about 15,000 years ago, pushing known human presence on the island roughly 5,000 years earlier than previously thought

Artificial intelligence led archaeologists to caves in Ireland where they discovered art suggesting humans arrived thousands of years before anyone thought possible.

Published September 7, 2026 · How we edit

A computer model trained on the characteristics of cave-dwelling and rock-art sites in south Wales pointed archaeologists across the Irish Sea to 28 candidate caves in southwest Ireland — and in eight of them, the Lost Land Bridge Project team says it found engravings, ochre and charcoal paintings, and finger-drawn marks in clay that they believe date from at least about 15,000 years ago, which would place people on the island roughly 5,000 years earlier than the previously accepted evidence, as reported by BBC News .