Portalis
Exploring the earliest connections between Ireland and Wales
Discover the earliest connections between Ireland and Wales
Portalis was a pilot project that explored the first connections between Ireland and Wales, dating back to the Mesolithic period, about 10,000 years ago. The transdisciplinary project investigated, through evidence based research, how those first settlers adapted to their surroundings in order to survive and sought to understand whether there are any parallels with how we can adapt to climate change now.
Portalis
Core Project Focus
Protect
Working with our local communities, we protect our natural and cultural coastal heritage and its natural habitats and wildlife by facilitating citizen led transfer of knowledge on heritage conservation at key coastal visitor destination heritage sites.
Promote
We promote understanding of climate change adaptation through cross-border visitor experiences that examine potential parallels between our earliest settler’s experience and how we can adapt to climate change now.
Grow
We support sustainably increasing visitor numbers via a new experiential tourism network working with our six coastal communities and a new cultural network development between key museums in Wales and Ireland.
Our work
What we do
Our work consolidates existing archaeological, geological and environmental evidence and provides and interprets new data into an exciting cross-border narrative.
How we work
Drilled core sampling, excavation, lab analysis, citizen science workshops, visitor experience design including film and virtual reality and cross-border network development.
How we raise awareness
Portalis highlights the value of protecting our natural and cultural heritage and related climate adaptation through public archaeology events, a Film documentary, and more.
How we support community growth
Portalis works closely with our coastal communities to establish a new cross-border experiential tourism network and new cross-border cultural network.
