Flints and Fishes exhibition comes to Ballymoney Museum
Tue, January 24, 2017
The legacy of the Stone Age and the first known settlement in Ireland is the focus of a new exhibition coming to Ballymoney next month.
Entitled ‘Flints and Fishes’, it brings together objects from across the Causeway Coast and Glens, telling the story of the area's first people.
The temporary exhibition will allow visitors to explore important stories about Ireland’s earliest known settlement at Mountsandel and the local stone axe factories which exported their products all over Ireland, Britain and beyond. Visitors can also discover the recent studies of DNA found in the region’s megalithic tombs, which trace the origins of Ireland’s first farmers.
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) hunter-gatherers lived at Mountsandel in Coleraine almost 10,000 years ago, fishing for salmon, and hunting wild boar and gathering hazelnuts in the surrounding woods. 4000 years later, Neolithic (New Stone Age) farmers crossed the water to Ireland, changing it forever.
The Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Alderman Maura Hickey said: “The legacy of the Stone Age is all around us and it is amazing to see the impact that it has had on our landscape. This exhibition portrays the story of the Causeway Coast and Glen’s first people and I would encourage everyone to come and learn about the history of our area and see the intriguing discoveries on display.”
The exhibition is open at Ballymoney Museum from February 1st until April 15th. Viewings can be made on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9am-5pm and 9am-4.30pm on Fridays. Admission is free of charge.
For more information, please contact Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council’s Museum Services on 028 7034 7234 or email: cms@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk
A picture of Dooey’s Cairn Ballymacaldrick near Dunloy