The Lough Gur archaeological site in Co Limerick is more important than Newgrange in Co Meath, according to the director of the National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace. Opening a new pre-Celtic exhibition at the Lough Gur visitor centre on Saturday, he said the archaeological remains there spanned a longer period of the Stone Age and the Bronze Age than Newgrange.
Items discovered in the area include the Lough Gur Shield, which is in the National Museum, and a replica of which is displayed at the visitor centre.
The Lough Gur Shield, dated 800BC, is from the time of Solomon and is one of the finest Bronze Age treasures. "It is one of the few Irish Bronze Age treasures which is actually made of bronze," said Dr Wallace.
He said he was proud and honoured both as a Limerick man and an archaeologist to be associated with the exhibition. "I have every confidence that it will do justice to a unique archaeological area, the reputation of which is known throughout Europe," he said.
A range of items has been added to the exhibition at the visitor centre, which is managed by the Shannon Development subsidiary, Shannon Heritage. They include replicas of early mining equipment of the type used during the Bronze Age at the Shalee Mine, Co Tipperary, and replicas of the Grange Beaker, Bronze Age funerary vases and domestic ware from the settlement.
Another item on display is a crannog made by Michael Donnellan from Ennis as a building project for his 1994 Leaving Certificate examination. He is a world champion Irish dancer and transferred from Michael Flatley's Lord of The Dance to Riverdance and is currently appearing in Bournemouth.
One panel deals with the social history of Lough Gur and includes famous local emigrants such as the parents of "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, Rose Kennedy's father. Other wellknown local emigrants were Boss Croker, the New York political leader, and Standish O'Grady, a barrister at the trial of Wolfe Tone.
Mr Paul Adams, general manager of Shannon Heritage, said about 40,000 people visited Lough Gur last year.