The Lower Gallery

The Lower Gallery displays the geological and archaeological finds from the locality, dating from the Precambrian Age (circa 700 - 570 million years ago) to the Romano-British period (1st - 5th century AD).  Many of the exhibits formed the basis of the original museum's collections on is opening in 1878.

Among the artefacts on show in this gallery are Tenby `beetle' stones dating from the Carboniferous period, bones of Ice Age animals such as the brown bear, cave lion and woolly rhinoceros, Palaeolithic and Mesolithic flint implements, an early Neolithic highly polished hand axe, Bronze Age cinerary urns, Iron Age lamps and Romano-British coins, pottery and tesserae.

Temporary exhibitions in this gallery have included antiquarian books on geology and archaeology and a set of Peruvian pots which had been donated to the museum in the 1920s.

Photographs of some of the exhibits

The Ridsdale Collection

Bones and antler in are dated c.250,000 - 16,000 BC

Female skull c.1300 BC from a barrow near Freyneslake, Castlemartin

Neolithic axe made of highly polished flint, Hayscastle c.5000-1400 BC

Roman glass vases c.200 AD

Roman oil lamp c. 1st Century AD