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 archaeologists who created handling objects for the Museum’s collection. These will take place each Friday morning throughout the month of May.

For our final Bealtaine Drop-In Workshop, come and meet Dr Brendan O’Neill of UCD School of Archaeology, and UCD Centre of Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture. Brendan will be talking about metal production in early medieval Ireland, and will have a selection of brooches, along with the various tools and objects needed to make them, including moulds and crucibles. Many of these replica artefacts are based on finds from Garranes, Co. Cork, Lagore Crannóg, Co, Meath, and Dooey, Co. Donegal; all of the original artefacts are on display in the Museum’s Treasury exhibition.

Brendan is a lecturer in experimental archaeology and material culture with research interests including non-ferrous metalworking, iron smelting and early medieval domestic architecture. For over a decade he has been working on projects from the Neolithic to the medieval period exploring how people made and used objects as part of their everyday experience.

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