Pupils in a Stone Age classroom

As part of their curriculum studies the pupils of St Oliver Plunkett Primary School have been reading up on Stone Age humans and embarked on discovery research project in the Enagh Lough area.

Included in the learning curve was a series of archaeology digs, in which three pupils, Ewelina Kula, Andrew McGilloway and Caolan O’Kane discovered flint scrapers, fuelling huge excitement at the school.

Teacher Peter Monaghan said the children had dived into the history and curriculum project with gusto, and were learning much about early man.

“We went on an archaeological walk through two ploughed fields in the area. A number of artefacts were found. The most significant being the two intact pieces of Mesolithic flint scrapers.

“Whilst there is evidence that neolithic humans lived and roamed the Enagh Lough area, this was the first time evidence of earlier Mesolithic Man living or roaming the area. The pieces proved that he passed through the area not that he lived here. If in the future we find flint waste from this period then that would prove that he actually was settled in this area. A significant find one that the Archaeology expert Ian Leitch, from Templemore Archaeology, group was excited about,” said Peter.

“We found working with Ian to be very informative and his method of inspiring and infusing interest in the subject was infectious. It was really great,” said Peter.

The archaeological digs tied in with the school’s ‘The World About Us’ programme, which has a broad remit allowing children to learn about people, places and things from the world around them in the context of history and geography.

“The children really loved it. It is one of the greatest things we have done with them, getting them out of the classroom to learn and become their own Indiana Jones and find things that were over 6,000 or 7,000 years old. It is unbelievable what that does to a young person’s mind. Back at school we re-enacted how early man used the flint scrapers to cut up a chicken and cooked it,” he said.