This is one of the worst archaeology museums I have been to in a long time. The last time I went to an archeology museum this bad my husband was with me... When he asked me how the archeology museum was here I asked "do you remember visiting ____ museum" and he said.. "oh that bad?"

My qualifications:

I have two degrees in archaeology as well as field experience. One of my degrees specifically focused on the intersection of archaeology, museums, and education. I have traveled around the world assessing archaeology museums for educational content and visitor experiences.

Staff:

Out of the three interactions I had with staff members, none were pleasant.

I had stopped for a moment to look at some of their programs for youth and young visitors, because of my interest in educational experiences of archeology museums. These programs were found on the information desk and the staff member told to "shove off" because I didn't have a child. A visitor who has just walked into your museum being told to "shove off," is unacceptable and unprofessional. This interaction was so rude as we were entering the museum, that we nearly walked out.

Because the museum was undergoing some renovations we were entering through yhe gift shop, which made the experience a little confusing because we were starting at the end. However, at no point where we told that we were entering through the exit, and when other people went and complained that they were confused (which we saw several times), the same worker would take them to "the beginning point." It was very frustrating to see them having a polite interaction with this employee when we had an immediate bad interaction with her.

Our second interaction, which was a stop to ask an employee a question, was met with a similar amount of rudness. I asked a very basic question, which frankly should have been addressed by the informational signs but was not. I had other questions but disregarded them because of the response I received.

Exhibits and Collections:

For a museum focused on the history of Ireland, it was amazing how much the collections came off as "great man." The exhibits also raised a lot more questions than they answered (e.g. here is a photo of earthworks. They were used for ceremonial purposes only. These are some pots, they have decoration on the inside........  Are the pots associated with the earthworks? Can I have more information on these "ceremonial purposes?" Are the pots in the display associated with the ceremony? How did the pots get decorated inside? What was the purpose of the pots being decorated on the inside?).

We wandered through several of the galleries before ending up in a gallery labeled "Kinship." For someone like me, this gallery had some interest; however be warned, because they have no labels or signs. If you are not interested in seeing bog bodies, this is the gallery where they are kept.

I learned more and had a much better experience in a lot of the other archeology museums that I visited in Ireland. This would not be on my travel recommendation list. The interaction level for educational content is extremely low. You're not guaranteed a good interaction with staff members. If you know anything about archeology, their educational content leaves a lot of holes in your understanding of what's going on.