New exhibitions explore our distant past
Fri, February 09, 2018
New exhibitions which celebrate and explore our distant past have opened in Limavady and Ballymoney.
The legacy of the Stone Age and the first known settlement in Ireland is the focus of the ‘Flints and Fishes’ exhibition at Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre.
The temporary exhibition will allow visitors to explore important stories about Mountsandel - Ireland’s earliest known settlement. The hunter-gatherers that settled here survived along the coast and rivers using stone tools. There will also be an opportunity to discover local archaeology which reveals how the first farmers allowed people to take control of their environment and spread out across the area.
This exhibition with its intriguing prehistoric discoveries will be open until Saturday 31st March.
In Ballymoney, the Metals, Wealth and War exhibition will show how Ireland’s golden age was an age of Bronze. This hugely exciting new display brings together Bronze Age treasures discovered in Ballymoney and across the Causeway Region, including items unearthed from backyards and peat bogs after 4000 years! Visit the exhibition to see these incredible objects which include the Liscolman bowl, the Corrstown mace head and Ballymoney's collection of bronze axes, daggers and more. The exhibition will be open to the public until Saturday 7th April.
To celebrate the opening of these exhibitions, Museum Services will be holding two free drop-in sessions at Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre on Saturday 17th February and Ballymoney Museum on Saturday 24th February. These ‘Buried Treasures’ events will run from 2pm - 4pm. Members of the public are invited to bring in their local finds which will be reviewed by an archaeologist. Visitors will also have a chance to handle genuine prehistoric artefacts and learn more about local archaeology.
Both exhibitions and events are free and guided tours are available for schools and other groups on request.
For more information please contact Causeway Coast and Glens Museum Services on 028 2766 0230 or email cms@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk
‘Ossian’s Grave’, a Neolithic court tomb situated near Cushendall, part of the rich history of the Causeway Coast and Glens.