Details

Exhibition Title

Treasures of Furness

Dates

28 September 2016 - 11 January 2017

Description

Fascinating exhibition explaining Cumbria's prehistory, settlement in the stone age then Roman and Viking conquest. Highlights from the exhibition include a magnificent reindeer head, a very rare wildcat, Neanderthal axe head, beautifully polished Langdale axes and highlights from our Bronze Age collection including the recently discovered Bronze Age Rampside Hoard and even a point that was probably used for tattooing. An overview of the exhibition About 12,000 years ago tools were left in caves in Cumbria along with the bones of animals such as reindeer and elk. This cave material is the first evidence of humans settling in Cumbria. The environment changed enormously from 10,000 BC onwards in Cumbria. The ice retreated, it became warmer and Cumbria became heavily wooded and humans seem to have been concentrated more on the coast in the north-west. They exploited both the sea and the land. Here in Furness you can see evidence of the communal life that emerged when people changed from hunting and gathering to a more settled farming life. The impressive stone circles at Swinside and Birkrigg, "Langdale Axe Factory" and the making of pottery all point to this new way of living. The start of metal working was another important development to creating today's society. Life is unimaginable without metal, and has been probably since it was first exploited. The Bronze Age and Iron Age describe these periods of metal ingenuity well but it also points to a more sinister side of the need for defence. The exhibition ends with a look at conquest: Roman and Viking conquest and their legacies in Cumbria.

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