As part of this year’s Bealtaine Festival, celebrating the arts and creativity as we age, the Museum will be hosting drop-in events with experimental archaeologist who created handling objects for the Museum’s collection. These will take place each Friday morning throughout the month of May.

This week, meet John Martin, experimental archaeologist and potter, who will show replica pots from Neolithic and Bronze Age Ireland, which John has made from the Museum’s handling collection. John will discuss how these pots were made, what materials were used, what tools people used in the past to make them, and what we know about them from the archaeological record. After you visit to the Learning Resource Room, make sure you check out the Museum’s Prehistoric Ireland exhibition, where some of the original pots are on display.

John worked in Osteoarchaeology Department at Queens University Belfast for three years after retiring from a career in medicine. In the archaeology department, he became interested in prehistoric pottery after seeing a Bronze Age food vessel from Rathlin Island. He has now completed a collection of over 200 pots from the nine Ulster counties.

No booking required. This event will take place in the Learning Resource Room, first floor. This event is not wheelchair accessible.