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| Carol Smith (NMI), Karen Wilson (NMI), James Reynolds (Galway City Museum), Mary Cahill (NMI) and Helen Bermingham, (Galway City Museum), working on the new ground floor 'Medieval Galway' exhibition, which is due to open next week! |
'A significant event for both the National Museum of Ireland and for Galway City Museum', is how Mary Cahill, Assistant Keeper with the NMI described the loan of prehistoric and medieval artefacts, which were put on display in Galway City Museum a few days ago by the staff of Galway City Museum, with the aid of National Museum crew.
The collection, which is made up of objects discovered on archaeological digs throughout the 1980s and 1990s in and around Galway City, as well as some more recent finds accruing from the NRA development of the M6 roadway, constitutes a significant loan to a regional Museum from the National Museum in Dublin.
Among the many highlights of the upcoming prehistoric display will be Neolithic (4000-2000BC) polished stone axe heads, Bronze Age Spearheads dating to 1300-1000BC, found in the River Corrib during the 1980s and Bronze Age pottery dating back to approximately 2000 - 1800 BC. The array of stone tools of flint and chert, such as scrapers and blades give a fascinating insight into prehistoric humans and their existence in Galway - many of the tools would have been used to hunt and skin animals, cut meat and even to do some woodworking. One of the earliest objects on display will be a magnificent Mesolithic stone spearhead, which may have been used to catch fish, and dates back to approximately 6000BC!
Galway's glorious medieval past will also be represented with samples of ceramics from Ireland, England and all over Europe, as well as coinage and of course wine bottles and drinking glasses galore! The medieval collection will draw attention to Galway's trading past and an age when the so-called 'Tribes of Galway' ruled the waters off the west coast of Ireland.
