1,600 year-old red deer antlers finally returned to Galway
A set of red deer antlers and a skull dating back 1,600 year-old have been returned to the Galway Atlantaquaria on permanent loan from the National Museum of Ireland after much persuasion from the local amateur archaeologists who discovered them.
The artefacts – along with a 5,000-year-old log canoe – were dug out of silt on shoreline between Satlhill and Barna by father and son Brían and Rónán Ó Carra.
Brían, a retired carpenter, combs the coast for treasures uncovered by storms and the eroding waves. The antlers and skull – later carbon dated to 400 AD – were spotted by son Rónán during a scavenging hunt over a decade ago. They have since found a host of artefacts, including the bones of ancient horses, at this one spot about the size of a room.
They donated the artefacts to the National Aquarium of Ireland in Salthill, who agreed to build a special tank for the log boat and glass case to display the antlers and skull. This particular skull has cut marks on it which must have been made by a metal tool.
It was only when he and retired NUIG academic Prof Mike Williams wrote a paper about this particular area of the shore – speculating on why so many red deer would have shed their antlers here – that the artefacts came to the attention of the National Museum of Ireland.
They were then removed and taken to the Dublin research facility to be examined. There they remained hidden from the public for over a year.
“Actually the National Museum threw a hissy fit because they didn’t know of its existence,” reveals Brían. “They came down and viewed the spot. It took a lot of persuasion to get them to go along with it being displayed again in Galway.”
On the suggestion of Mary Cahill, museum keeper of Irish antiquities, an application was made to have the pieces returned to the Atlantiquaria on permanent loan, which was approved this month.
The log boat, which has been named the Barna Canoe, is of great interest to local archaeologists as it proves man was fishing in Barna 5,000 years ago. Brían believes that the whole of Galway Bay was made up of forests and lagoons populated by elks and, later, red deer before being flooded by water and it should be designated an area of special archaeological interest.
Last year fragments of an oak trackway – believed to be between 3,500 and 4,500 years old and built when the sea level was rising – were discovered on a storm beach near Furbo. It is the largest of its kind to have been uncovered in Europe.
“Every time there’s a storm we’re out as it uncovers more treasures. We’re waiting for other things to come up. When we found the bones of a stumpy pony, Mike [Williams] joked it could be the forerunner of the Connemara Pony. You wouldn’t know what you’d find.”