A much-anticipated new gallery at a town’s museum is set to open in just two weeks.
The Lives in our Landscape Gallery at Maidstone Museum, which has cost nearly £640,000, will look back at the lives of people living in the area from the earliest humans hunting animals with stone tools to the medieval period.

Cllr Stephen Thompson, cabinet member for Healthier Stronger Communities at Maidstone Borough Council, said: “The new gallery is superb. I am sure visitors will be delighted with how much there is to see and do!

“A visit really helps us to imagine how people learned to thrive in Kent all those years ago, adapting to challenges and making such creative use of their collective talents.”

An interactive touchscreen map will allow visitors to explore what archaeological exhibits have been unearthed in the borough, and visitors will be able to take part in hands-on activities, handling objects and trying on costumes.

The museum’s manager, Natalie Moor, said: “The gallery will allow us to imagine how people lived thousands of years ago.

“The skeleton and film of the Eastry woman, buried nearly 1,500 years ago, is a great example. They tell her story and give clues about her life through scientific analysis of her teeth and bones.”

She said: “Another great example is the recreation of what a man from the 15th century could have looked like after a skull from Trottiscliffe has been scanned and investigated.

“Visitors to the new gallery will be able to look into the face of someone who lived around 600 years ago.”

Entry to Maidstone Museum is free.

The gallery has been made possible by a generous £100,000 gift from the William and Edith Oldham Charitable Trust, matched by £100,000 raised by Maidstone Museums’ Foundation, and a £50,000 donation from the Kent Archaeological Society, together with £389,000 from the council.

It is also supported by the Council for British Archaeology South East who have provided a grant for replica objects for the gallery.

More information can be found here.

The gallery opens on Wednesday, June 5.