Bronze Age Metalwork
The earliest metal tools were made from copper.  Later, it was discovered that by melting copper together with tin, it formed a harder metal, bronze, and this became the main type of metal.  Early Bronze Age tools and weapons included flat axes, spearheads, daggers and halberds.  L...

Bronze Age Gold
Gold was a symbol of power and wealth during the Bronze Age and used for personal ornaments and jewellery.  The most striking Early Bronze age ornaments are the lunula (crescent-shaped collars made from thin sheet gold), of which the museum has several fine examples.  More intricate and...

Bronze Age Flint and Pottery
A wide range of richly decorated styles of pottery appeared during the Early Bronze Age.  The museum's collections hold many splendid examples including a group of pots from the destroyed cairn at Mount Stewart, County Down. Later Bronze Age pots were undecorated. Flint was still import...

Bronze Age Jewellery
As well as gold, jewellery was also made from a variety of other materials including faience, amber and jet. Jet was imported from the north-east of England and amber from the Baltic region.Within the collections is a very fine amber necklace from Kurin Moss, near Garvagh, County Londonderry and ...