A LEG bone from the oldest "Northerner" ever discovered and a stunning haul of Viking treasure are among the Furness artefacts in the running to be featured in a list of important regional objects.

Visitors to the Dock Museum in North Road, Barrow, are voting to decide which one of five unique items should be included as Furness's representative in a project called A History of Lancashire in 70 Objects.

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The public has just one week to decide which of five famous local objects should be added to the list. The winner will be revealed on Thursday February 9.

Furness was an exclave of the historical county of Lancashire until it became part of Cumbria in the 1970s, and the collection of items is recognising this link by including a well-known object from the area in the exclusive group of 70.

The five items in the running include the earliest known human bone from northern Britain which was discovered at Kents Bank Cave, and the Viking Furness Hoard which was unearthed by a metal detectorist in 2011.

Also in contention are a painting of the Duke of Devonshire, a model of the Oriana, and a Stank iron mine model as the discovery of iron ore in the area was critical in the area's industrial development.

Sabine Skae, collections and exhibitions manager at the Dock Museum, picked the five objects in contention, all of which are on display at the venue.

She said: "I wanted to pick objects that represent Furness the best and the heritage of shipbuilding and mining.

"We have had quite a few votes so far and I'm really pleased about that. People are finding it very difficult to choose, which is a good thing.

"It's nice to highlight the objects on a national level.

"It's a little bit like Neil MacGregor's History of the World in 100 Objects at the British Museum for Radio Four.

"They are organising trails and leaflets on the back of it so people can go around Lancashire to see the different objects. People are quite inspired to find out more."

Jennifer Ingham, project coordinator of A History of Lancashire in 70 Objects, visited the Dock Museum as one of the many participating venues and galleries to start the week of voting.

A History of Lancashire in 70 Objects aims to discover some of the hidden stories from the area through objects and has received a grant of £55,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is a partnership between Lancashire Heritage Learning, Museum Development North West and Lancashire Life magazine.

Votes can be made at the Dock Museum and on the attraction's Facebook page here .

More about each object

<strong> Furness Hoard </strong>

The Furness Hoard is by far the largest amount of Viking treasure ever found in this area.

The hoard consists of 92 silver coins and artefacts among them ingots and arm-ring or "ring money".

The latest coin dates to 955, a coin from Eadred, an English king. This makes it a relatively late hoard.

It comes at a fascinating and not particularly well known period of history.

The history of England as a continuous single kingdom starts in the 950s. The north, especially Northumbria, was critical to unification.

Cumbria was notionally controlled by the Kingdom of Strathclyde but it lacks surviving documentary records.

The discovery of a Viking hoard dating to post 955 in Furness suggests strong Viking presence if not control of this area – not Strathclyde and not English control.

<strong> Model of Stank iron mine </strong>

The Stank iron ore mine model was based on photographs taken in 1878 and includes a winding engine house for operating cages, engine house for pumping water from mines and part of a railway system.

Stank mine suffered from flooding and water had to be constantly pumped into the River Yarl, hence its later name of Red Waters. Stank mine closed at the turn of the 20th century.

The discovery of large deposits of iron ore in the Furness area was absolutely critical in its industrial development in the mid-19th century.

It led to Barrow being named as the "English Chicago" due to its rapid growth.

<strong> Model of Oriana </strong>

The mechanised full hull model of the liner TSS Oriana was built to a scale of 1:96.

Oriana was built by Vickers from 1957 to 1960 for the Orient Steam Navigation Company.

The vessel had revolutionary design features and was the final in a long line of liners to be built by Vickers for the company.

The model is unique in the Dock Museum's collection from the point of view that it is an interactive model with a moving seascape, ship movement, rotating propellers and internal lighting.

The Oriana model has been built with a hollow hull to house the mechanics and cabling which allow the hull to roll and pitch.

<strong> Oldest Northerner </strong>

Kents Bank Cave, on the north side of Morecambe Bay, was excavated in the early 1990s and 2001 by Chris Salisbury and a team of local archaeologists.

Scientists from Liverpool John Moores University investigated the collection.

This study included a fragment of human leg bone radiocarbon dated to just over 10,000 years old

This is the earliest known human bone from northern Britain, following the retreat of the polar conditions of the last Ice Age.

<strong> Duke of Devonshire </strong>

This painting, oil on canvas, of the Duke of Devonshire represented the beginning of a long and successful shipbuilding industry in this town.

William Cavendish, the 7th Duke of Devonshire, wanted Barrow to develop into a major port.

A Barrow-India service was planned with this vessel and five others. The plan failed but shipbuilding prospered.

This was the first ship registered on the Barrow Shipbuilding Company's books and was launched in Barrow on June 25 1873.

The painting shows the Duke of Devonshire, elegant, calm and serene on choppy seas.

It was painted by Samuel Walters, one of the finest 19th century marine artists.