: Ymgysylltu â'r Gymuned

As many regular visitors to St Fagans will know, our much-loved Celtic Village was closed earlier in the year. Twenty years seems to be about the normal life-span for reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses – the timbers decay and they begin to get a bit wobbly after that. To replace it we're going to be building a new reconstruction based on a 2,000 year old Iron Age farmstead on Anglesey called Bryn Eryr, and just recently we reached a really exciting milestone along the way.

The Bryn Eryr roundhouses consisted of two buildings built side-by-side. Their walls were made of packed clay (probably mixed with grit and straw, like Wales's traditional clom-built houses) and the roofs were thatched. We've had a lot of discussions about what we should use to thatch them. Naturally the roofs of the original buildings haven't survived, but we do know that its Iron Age owners had access to spelt – an early form of wheat – because charred grains were found at the site. From there the argument goes, if they were harvesting spelt grains to make their bread they also had their hands-on a useful thatching material, spelt straw.

So, we thought, St Fagans is surrounded by farm land, we've got an excellent farming team, and lots of enthusiasm, why not try to grow a crop of spelt ourselves and see whether we can thatch our next Iron Age farmstead with it?

There are a lot of uncertainties involved in this, many things can go wrong between the idea and the harvesting but St Fagans is part of an EU collaboration which encourages just this kind of experimental research. So thanks to the OpenArch project, with its Culture programme funding, and a lot of advice from experts in the field (apologies for the pun), we've decided to give it a go.

A few months ago we ploughed 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) just outside the main museum site. This looks like an enormous area when you're stood beside it, but we're told this is what we need in order to produce enough straw to thatch two large roundhouses.

With the ploughing done, our Learning Team organised an opportunity for school groups to come out and see what we were up to. This was followed by the museum's archaeologists bringing together a team of volunteers who walked the area in search of any artefacts that may have been turned up by the plough. The finds from this have yet to be analysed but already we can see that the area had been visited by prehistoric hunter-gatherers, a 13th-century traveller who lost some loose change, and many other more recent people.

And then it rained, and rained and rained. Our spelt seed arrived and was placed in a barn, and still it rained. I was beginning to get very worried. It's all very well having a plan to grow a crop of Iron Age wheat, but that's not going to happen if the seed stays in sacks. Then a few weeks the weather cleared up, the ground dried sufficiently and we finally got a chance to plant.

Then we waited… Would anything happen? Had we left it too late? Would frosts / rain / snow put a stop to our plans? Happily not! Last week we found the first seeds had germinated. I’m going out to the field again today to check on its progress. Will the shoots be showing? Have we got the spacing of the seed right? Will the rabbits leave it alone? Will it grow tall? I feel like an expectant father all over again.

Tuesday 29^th October saw many staff from Archaeology & Numismatics take over the Main Hall in National Museum Cardiff for our special half-term Discovery Day. We were overwhelmed with the positive response from all who visited us.

We wanted to give you an idea of a little of the vast range of work we do and see some hidden gems from our collections, which you might not otherwise get a chance to experience.

A special treat was one of our conservators, Penny Hill, working on a large Roman pot from the recent Caerleon excavations by Cardiff University. Normally the conservation work has to take place in a lab in our basement, but she managed to get this wonderful item upstairs for you to see the work being done on it. It was too fragile to be fully excavated in the field, so it was carefully lifted, mud and all, and brought to us. Penny was gently scraping off the centuries of dirt to reveal the pot and its contents of bone.

We’re not usually so lucky as to have a pot so intact. Usually they are broken into numerous pieces, with eroded edges and not all present. It’s like putting together a jigsaw, without the picture, lots of missing pieces, and with the existing pieces the wrong shape. Louise Mumford is also a conservator and brought along some replica pots to demonstrate how she works her magic on them. Our visitors learnt how to look for matching edges and assemble the pots. They also had advice on sticking back together their own broken treasures.

 Siân, Jody, Mary, Julie and Alice led art activities based on pieces in our collection. Siân Iles’ specialism is medieval pottery, and she brought out some lovely examples of medieval tiles from our stores. Our visitors were able to see the wonderful designs on them, and how they built up across a floor to form a larger pattern. They then coloured in their own section of a “floor tile” on paper, to form part of a larger pattern which we displayed and added to throughout the day.

Jody Deacon works with prehistoric artefacts, and Mary Davis is a conservator with a particular interest in the analysis of materials, especially Iron Age and Bronze Age metals. They brought out some designs from Iron Age coins, and talked about how they were decorate with the symbols and patterns which meant something to the people of the time. Our visitors used multi-coloured scratch card to make their own beautiful designs.

Julie Taylor does the admin for the section, and Alice Forward is with us for a year on a Community Archaeology placement. Julie is a textile artist in her spare time, and is interested in the memory of places. An archaeological excavation can be like digging up the ghosts of the past – a small trace of someone, a stain in the ground, an unclear, faint picture. Julie and Alice helped the visitors to make “ghost pictures” – the visitors chose an object from our Origins gallery to draw on acetate, which was then transferred to light-sensitive fabric, making an ephemeral image of what you had seen. We have a few pieces which were left behind, so if you see yours here and want it back, do call to collect it.

Del Elliott can normally be found helping you to use the Clore Discovery Gallery or as a Museum Assistant in the general exhibitions. He also volunteers with our handling collection in the Origins gallery. He used a model of the “Celtic Warrior Grave” to talk to the public about the burial traditions of the Iron Age, the artefacts found in the grave and how they have changed over time.

Evan Chapman works with our Roman archaeology, and also looks after the image archive in the department. Some of our earliest photographs only now exist on glass-plate negatives; extremely fragile and difficult for anyone to use. The Museum has received a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn foundation to enable us to digitise some of these negatives, and Evan brought along a wonderful presentation of old photographs of excavations in Cardiff Castle, Llanmelin Hillfort and Segontium, also an archive of Early Christian Monuments from Glamorgan.

Last but not least, Jackie Chadwick and Tony Daly are the A&N illustrators. Photographs are a very useful record, but often a great deal of detail exists in the artefacts which simply cannot be picked up by the lens. Jackie and Tony have produced some incredible drawings, showing such things as the subtle marks left in the manufacturing process and the texture of an item. They also play a large part in the interpretation of a site or object, by illustrating how a site may have looked or an object used, based on the complex archaeological evidence. The visitors could chat to them about the process, see some of their work, and have a go at making their own illustrations.

We could not have done the day without our fabulous volunteers. Kym, Luke and Ciaran generously gave up their time and worked so hard with us to run the activities. A huge thank you to all of you!

The day was a bit of a swan-song for the Origins gallery – the gallery will close in February next year and the collection prepared for the new displays planned for St Fagans National History Museum. Archaeology & Numismatics is now part of the larger History and Archaeology Department, and the new displays are intended to cover the prehistory and history of Wales at a single site.

Archaeology will still have a strong programme of events in this new structure – look out in the What’s On guide for our regular series of lunchtime talks and Behind The Scenes tours. Another Discovery Day is on the cards during the CBA’s Festival of British Archaeology next July, and we are planning a one-day conference for next autumn; dates to be confirmed.

If you want to volunteer with us, you can get in touch with the Museum’s volunteer co-ordinator Ffion Davies.

We’d love to hear your thoughts – what did you think of the day, what would you like to see at the next one, what can we do better? Just comment below.

Bye for now

Julie

Y Cenhadon Ifanc

Cafodd y grŵp hwn o oedolion ifanc ei gyfarfod cyntaf ddechrau mis Mehefin. Maent wedi dangos llawer o frwdfrydedd ac angerdd dros broject ailddatblygu’r Amgueddfa ac maent yn awyddus i greu a chynnal rhaglen allestyn yn arbennig ar gyfer ieuenctid Cymru. Bydd y grŵp hefyd yn adolygu’r rhaglen o weithgareddau ar gyfer pobl ifanc ac yn cynnig eu safbwyntiau ar gynnwys a dehongli’r orielau. Cymerodd y grŵp yma hefyd ran yn y gweithdai dehongli ym mis Gorffennaf, a dywedodd y staff eu bod yn ‘ysbrydoliaeth’.

gweithdy dehongli

Our Museum

Sefydlwyd Fforwm Cyfranogiad Our Museum yn 2011 tra’n datblygu cais i Gronfa Treftadaeth y Loteri i ailddatblygu Sain Ffagan a’r cais i Sefydliad Paul Hamlyn i ddatblygu ymgysylltiad cymunedol yn yr Amgueddfa. Canlyniad hyn yw bod cyswllt annatod wedi bodoli rhwng ddwy fenter o’r dechrau. Staff yr Amgueddfa, Ymddiriedolwyr a chynrychiolwyr sefydliadau trydydd parti a sector cyhoeddus sy’n gweithio’n agos â grwpiau cymunedol yng Nghymru yw aelodau’r Fforwm. Mae cyfrannu at y Fforwm yn fodd iddynt gyfleu anghenion a diddordebau’r cymunedau y maent yn eu cynrychioli, a dod yn greiddiol i fethodoleg yr Amgueddfa drwy hyn.

Nod y Fforwm yw gwneud Gwirfoddoli yn greiddiol i’r Amgueddfa ac yn gynaliadwy ac i greu ‘Cymuned o Wirfoddolwyr’. Y prif nod yw sicrhau bod anghenion gwirfoddolwyr yn greiddiol i’n gwaith, gan wneud gwirfoddoli yn haws ac yn fwy perthnasol i’r cymunedau amrywiol yr ydym ni, fel amgueddfa genedlaethol, yn eu cynrychioli.

Cynhaliwyd ymgyrch fawr dros yr haf i recriwtio gwirfoddolwyr. Gyda chymorth ein Partneriaid Cymunedol cafwyd tua 50 o wirfoddolwyr i weithio mewn amryw swyddi ar draws yr Amgueddfa; yn yr Uned Adeiladau Hanesyddol, Addysg, Ystadau a Digwyddiadau ymhlith eraill. Cafwyd gwirfoddolwyr o bob lliw a llun, a phob un yn gwirfoddoli am resymau gwahanol; rhai wedi ymddeol, rhai’n fyfyrwyr, rhai’n chwilio am her newydd ac eraill yn chwilio am weithgaredd rheolaidd mewn lleoliad prydferth lle gallent ddysgu sgiliau newydd a chyfarfod pobl newydd.

Gwirfoddolwyr Addysg yn paratoi ar gyfer y gweithdy Creu Tarian.

Y Fforwm Amrywiaeth

Dyma grŵp o gynrychiolwyr sefydliadau sy’n gweithio’n agos gyda grwpiau cymunedol amrywiol. Sefydlwyd y grŵp gyda’r nod o sicrhau y bydd ailddatblygiad Sain Ffagan yn hygyrch, o ddiddordeb i bawb ac yn cynrychioli pawb. Cafwyd y cyfarfod cyntaf ym mis Ebrill a thrafodwyd dulliau o gydweithio, dulliau o ymgysylltu â chynulleidfaoedd allweddol a phwysigrwydd datblygu modelau arfer gorau.

O ganlyniad i’r Fforwm, cymerodd grŵp o gynrychiolwyr Cymunedau yn Gyntaf De Glan yr Afon ran mewn gweithdai dehongli ym mis Awst. Ymhlith y gwrthrychau a drafodwyd roedd delw o’r dduwies Durga a chyfres o wrthrychau archaeolegol yn ymwneud â’r gweddillion dynol hynaf i’w canfod yng Nghymru. Dywedodd y curaduron ei bod yn braf gweld y gwrthrychau trwy lygaid newydd. Roedd y grŵp yn awyddus i osod y gwrthrychau yng nghyd-destun hanes y byd – dull diddorol fyddai’n helpu i ymgysylltu â’r rhieni o gefndiroedd amrywiol sy’n byw yng Nghymru a’r holl ymwelwyr tramor yr Amgueddfa.