BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | Neolithic artefacts found in school grounds

Archaeologists in Londonderry have discovered artefacts dating back about 6,000 years.

The homes and tools of New Stone Age Man have been uncovered during excavation work at a site outside the city.

They also found arrowheads during work in the grounds of Thornhill College which is believed were linked to some sort of unrest between Stone Age settlers.

Work at the site has been going on for several months and evidence has also been found of a boundary wall on one of the sites being burnt down.

"This is a rare insight to the existence of conflict between peoples during the New Stone Age period in Derry's past," said archaeologist Paul Logue.

Neolithic houses, tools and axes which may have been used by Derry's first farmers have also been found by a team of archaeologists from the DoE's Environment and Heritage Service.

We may be seeing the results of a 6,000-year-old temper tantrum

Former pupil Ruth Logue

Environment minister Sam Foster said: "This site is a very rare and exciting discovery of national, even international importance."

Most of the axes were fashioned from local stone, but it was the discovery of the arrowheads and the fire-damaged palisade surrounding one of the sites, which have given a rare insight into the city's conflict 6,000 years ago.

Pieces of one axe found 30 metres apart indicated some sort of fall-out, according to Ruth Logue, also a member of the archaeological team, and a former pupil at the college.

She said: "We may be seeing the results of a 6,000-year-old temper tantrum.

"It seems very possible that the axe broke in two when its disgruntled owner launched it across the settlement in disgust."

The potential of the site was first uncovered ten years ago when an amateur archaeologist came across 300 flint tools.

This work will continue for some months and the DoE say the site will remain closed to preserve its archaeological integrity.


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