: Y Pentref Celtaidd

St Fagans and the OpenArch project

Steve Burrow, 3 Tachwedd 2015

For the last five years St Fagans National History Museum has been a partner in the EU Culture-funded project, OpenArch.

OpenArch is an exciting project which aims to raises standards of management, interpretation and visitor interaction in those open-air museums that focus on Europe’s early history – archaeological open-air museums (AOAMs) as they have become known. AOAMs can be found right across Europe, bringing to life everything from Stone Age campsites to Iron Age farms, Roman forts and medieval towns. Their great strength is in the way in which they present their stories, often through detailed reconstructions and live interpretation.

The partners in this project are:

Archaeological-Ecological Centre Albersdorf, Germany

Archeon, Netherlands

C.I. De Calafell, Catalonia

EXARC, Netherlands

Exeter University, UK

Fotevikens Museum, Sweden

Hunebedcentrum, Netherlands

Kierikki Stone Age Village, Finland

Parco Archeologico e Museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale, Italy

Viminacium, Serbia

And, of course, St Fagans National History Museum.

 

The project itself consists of three main strands: conferences and workshops, staff exchanges, and activities.

Almost all the partners have hosted conferences related to the main area they are covering in the project: management practices, visitor interaction, craft work, scientific studies and communication, among others. Many of these have attracted large audiences and all have been stimulating opportunities to share new ideas.

Staff exchanges have also been a key method of strengthening links between the partner organisations, with practitioners spending time working in one another’s institutions to help share best practice.

The activities that partners have undertaken have, of course, been very varied. For example, visitor surveys have been undertaken to help us understand how well we are serving the public, and scientific studies have been carried out to learn more about how life was lived in the past and how this can be shown to the public.

 

What has St Fagans done?

St Fagans has benefited tremendously from the project. Over the course of the last five years, around twenty members of staff from all parts of the Museum have had the opportunity to see how their colleagues in other museums go about their work. It’s been a chance to share what we do well, and learn from others. On one exchange visit, staff from our Events team were able to see how public activities were organized by our partners at Archeon in the Netherlands. On another, our Iron Age learning facilitator helped out on an Iron Age themed event in Calafell, Spain. The experience has certainly given us a better appreciation of the benefits of European working and has helped us to develop further ideas for collaborative working with European partners.

Throughout the project we have been using the experience we’ve gained in OpenArch to improve the quality of the new Iron Age farmhouses we’ve been building. For example, we learnt from the very high standards of interior display demonstrated by our colleagues in Modena in Italy and adopted their standards in the choice of display items; while the work of the Hunebedcentrum in the Netherlands helped in suggesting ways that we could improve our building maintenance programmes. Along the way we’ve shared what we’ve learnt and how we’ve applied it in presentations at conferences run by the partners.

Perhaps the high point of our involvement in the project was the conference that we ran in May 2015. We used this to focus the project on issues relating to the management of archaeological open-air museums, and over three days we looked at issues both theoretical and practical in the company of a very distinguished selection of speakers from across Europe.

Alongside the conference we ran a craft festival as a major public event – the first of its kind to be held at St Fagans in many years. Over the course of a packed day, we hosted around 50 craftspeople from across Wales and the UK, including colleagues from our partner museums who were with us on staff exchange. Together they put on a great show, demonstrating everything from metalworking to pot-making, leatherwork, painting, food preparation and lots more. Over 5,000 visitors came to visit and feedback was excellent.

More information about our involvement in OpenArch can be found on the project website: openarch.eu.

Bryn Eryr: troi tŷ yn gartref

Dafydd Wiliam, 18 Awst 2015

Ers y blog diwethaf mae’r gwaith ar y safle wedi datblygu cryn dipyn. Rydym wedi gorffen y to gwellt ac mae camau olaf y gwaith tirlunio wedi dechrau. Mae banc pridd wedi’i godi o amgylch y ddau dŷ crwn i efelychu amddiffynfeydd cadarn gwreiddiol Fferm Bryn Eryr ar Ynys Môn. Adeiladwyd cysgod to glaswellt y tu ôl i’r tai a fydd yn cael ei ddefnyddio fel gweithdy awyr agored a gofod addysg ychwanegol. Mae’r waliau o ‘glom’ - sef cymysgedd o glai, isbridd a cherrig mân - yn union fel y tai crwn, ond mae’r to glaswellt yn esiampl arall o ddeunydd toi sydd bron mor hen â gwellt. Gosodwyd arwyneb cobl o flaen y tai crwn, sydd hefyd yn efelychu’r lleoliad gwreiddiol.

Yn ddiweddar rydw i wedi bod yn canolbwyntio ar ddodrefnu’r tai. Bydd y mwyaf o’r ddau yn gymharol wag (dim ond aelwyd a mainc bren yn dilyn y waliau) er mwyn ei ddefnyddio fel ystafell ddosbarth ac ardal arddangos. Mae’r tŷ llai yn dangos bywyd cartref fel yr oedd yn ystod Oes yr Haearn ac yn cynnwys dodrefn cyffredin i’r cyfnod – tân i gynhesu, gwely i gysgu, gwŷdd i greu dillad a blancedi - a cistiau pren yw storio, ynghyd a chrochan i goginio bwyd. Seiliwyd bron pob eitem ar esiamplau o’r cyfnod sydd wedi llwyddo goroesi dros 2000 o flynyddoedd. Mae’r grochan yn replica o lestr coginio copr a haearn a ganfuwyd yn Llyn Cerrig Bach, prin 25km o Bryn Eryr, ac wrth y tân bydd fersiynau syml o’r brigwrn a ganfuwyd yng Nghapel Garmon yn Sir Ddinbych. Mae’r llestri pren wedi eu seilio ar rhai a ganfuwyd ym mryngaer Breiddin ym Meirionydd tra bod y maeniau melin yn efelychu y rhai a ganfuwyd yn Bryn Eryr ei hun. Rydyn ni wedi cynhyrchu set lawn o offer trin coed yn dilyn esiamplau o fryngaerau fel Tre’r Ceiri a Castell Henllys. Mae hyd yn oed y blancedi wedi eu copïo o ddarnau o ddefnydd sydd wedi goroesi.

Gyda’r tŷ wedi ei ddodrefnu fel y byddai yn y cyfnod gallwn ni ddefnyddio’r lleoliad i ail-greu bywyd mewn tŷ crwn. Gyda chymorth crefftwyr, actorion a gwirfoddolwyr gallwn ni ddod i ddeall bywyd Oes yr Haearn yn well a helpu troi’r tŷ hwn yn gartref.

Gaeaf yn y Pentref CeltaIdd

Ian Daniel, 1 Rhagfyr 2010

Gaeaf yn y Pentre Celtaidd, cyfle i deuluoedd wylio sut mae darparu ar gyfer y gaeaf, dewch i droi eich llaw at wehyddu gwiail a chawen.

4 a 5 o Rha 12:00 i 13:00 a 14:00 i 15:30

Dathlu Moel y Gaer

Ian Daniel, 12 Tachwedd 2010

Diolch o galon i ddisgyblion Ysgol Rhos Helyg, Rhosesmor, Sir Fflint ac Ysgol y Berllan Deg, Caerdydd am ymuno gyda ni wrth ddathlu creu'r Moel y Gaer newydd ddoe. Roedd hi'n wych cael ysbrydoliaeth gan Dewi Pws Morris, Bardd Plant Cymru. Buom yn creu perfformiad a darn o farddoniaeth. Byddaf yn cerfio'r geiriau hyn ar ddarn o bren dros yr wythnosau nesaf i'w harddangos nhw ger Moel y Gaer. Dyma'r gerdd i chi

Ti yw cartref y Celtiaid

Yn llawn o atgofion henfyd

Pobol cryf a dyfeisgar ein gorffennol

A ni? Dani yma o hyd

 

Dysgu sgiliau newydd

Ian Daniel, 24 Medi 2010

Dros yr wythnosau diwethaf rwyf wedi bod yn dysgu sgiliau newydd. Treuliodd Paul Atkin rai diwrnodau yn y Pentref yn dysgu fi sut i droi pren a chreu powlen. Adeiladodd durn ar fy nghyfer a gyda chefnogaeth ein crefftwyr yma, y gof a'r gwneuthurwr lledr, rydym ni'n gobeithio cynhyrchu ein powlenni ein hunain! Ymunwch gyda fi dros y misoedd nesaf wrth i mi baratoi ar gyfer y gaeaf.

Dewch i weld sut, yn fy marn i, yr oedd pobl yr Oes Haearn yn storio bwyd a phlanhigion ar gyfer y gaeaf

8-10 Hyd 11.00 - 13.00 a 14.00 - 16.00

Gwyliwch fi'n paratoi ar gyfer y gaeaf a dewch i droi eich llaw at wehyddu gwiail a chawen                       

4 - 5 Rhag 12.00 - 13.00 a 14.00 - 15.30