Looking back into history…

The Society’s Archaeological Collection is housed in the Heywood Sumner Room. It contains many artefacts from all periods of British Prehistory and some more recent finds and ethnographical material. The more spectacular items are the numerous Lower Palaeolithic handaxes from the Bournemouth Gravels dating from 250,000 years ago, and some Bronze Age urns. Much of the collection was retrieved at the turn of the last century during the period of great development in which much of Bournemouth’s rich prehistoric heritage wasAncient flint tools and arrowheads covered by housing. Another important feature of the collection is some of the material dug up by former BNSS President, Heywood Sumner, in his explorations of the New Forest Romano-British pottery kiln sites.

Some of the collection has already been examined and listed in archaeological tomes. However, the whole collection is currently being catalogued and displayed in chronological order to assist the serious scholar as well as the casual visitor. It is hoped to enlarge the study to produce a more up-to-date introduction to Bournemouth’s prehistory.