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Early Mesolithic (8000 - 6000 BC)
Amongst the collections of the Ulster Museum are the artefacts from the oldest settlement site in Ireland excavated in the 1970s at Mount Sandel, near Coleraine, County Londonderry. During the excavation circular houses, hearths, rubbish and storages pits, and flint-working areas were discovered. These first hunter-gatherers used very distinct stone tools called microliths. Other types of tools included flint and stone axes, picks and borers.