Celebrate Yorkshire’s beginnings at the Yorkshire Museum.

An exciting display incorporating sound, film and cutting edge technology with a range of fantastic archaeological material and scientific specimens will tell the story of Yorkshire – from its beginnings to the arrival of the Romans.

From a Paleolithic handaxe to the first Iron Age gold jewellery ever to be found in Yorkshire, the display will give visitors a sense of this regions rich heritage as well as an insight into how life played out here thousands of years ago.

Special attention is paid to the story of Star Carr; the most significant Mesolithic site in Europe, where people lived over 11,000 years ago.

Bone harpoons, elk antler tools and birch bark rolls – amazingly preserved in peat – are just some of the highlights which will tell the story of the people of Yorkshire in the Mesolithic period. An array of animals from our Natural Science collection sit alongside these archaeological gems, against a recreated backdrop of the site of Star Carr, to demonstrate how the Yorkshire landscape looked in the past, and link our collections with the landscape from which they derive.

The ancient finds are displayed alongside exciting digital content, giving visitors a taste of the sights and sounds that our ancestors would have experienced in Yorkshire 11,000 years ago.

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