Blog: Archeoleg: PAS Cymru

More from Ian:

Monday: Following yesterday's success, we created a new bloom. The bloomery was acting differently today, possibly due to the difference in humidity, and the fact that it had dried out more. Again it was a success, although the bloom separated into three pieces. Today I was able to combine my work with school parties with the iron smelting, giving the children a chance to see how the iron objects in the Celtic Village were made. Andrew was able to work one of the smaller blooms into pieces of iron

Every year, National Archaeology Week is co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology, an educational charity working throughout the UK to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and future generations. There are events all over England and Wales, and some in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and there is a full list on their website at www.nationalarchaeologyweek.org.uk

This is what the CBA says about the event:

"National Archaeology Week is your unique chance to discover and explore the archaeological heritage of the United Kingdom. During this nine day event, which will run from 12th-20th July, you can take part in excavation open days, hands-on activities, family fun days, guided tours, exhibitions, lectures, ancient art and craft workshops and much, much more".

This year, we have events in all of those categories at National Museum Wales, and if you can't get to any of them, hopefully you can get a flavour of them through this blog.

And if you were there, and want to know what happened after you left, this is your chance to find out!

Did the bloomery actually produce any iron? Did we manage to reconstruct any medieval pots?

Read on....

National Archaeology Week 2008 is under way at National Museum Wales, and at three NMW sites, visitors have been getting arty like cave-dwellers, writing like Romans, helping to sort out a medieval pottery's rejects and witnessing the technology that put the Iron into the Iron Age.

And all in the first five days!

At National Museum Cardiff, families joined Ken Brassil and  Bethan Jones for Cave Art workshops.

Bethan:

"The cave art weekend was a great success. The visitors became their very own cave men and women for the weekend, exploring the new Origins gallery, studying traditional cave paintings and the animals before stepping back through time in to our Evolution of Wales exhibition, where they were able to experience what life may have been like in a damp dark cave....

The families sketched the animals found around that time before heading back to the present to create their art from the sketches they'd made. The children were able to use and experience similar materials to those their ancestors would have used: stone, wood and even bones. I think using the bones to draw with was everyone's favourite, especially mine!

 A really fun-packed weekend. I was very impressed with the amount of sculpture made as well as drawings. Good job every one, including the parents and grandparents, for getting stuck in!"

Ken:

"National Archaeology Week kicked off in Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Cardiff with the latest take on Ice Age art created by seriously enthusiastic families of South Walians and super visitors from Quebec City too.

We explored the Palaeolithic zone of the new archaeology galleries and sought out the robotic mammoths in the Evolution of Wales Gallery as catalysts for making clay figures ... to take home.

The mini figures we created made up for the (almost total) absence of Ice Age art from Wales....Mini mammoths were the most popular creation. Some of the seniors modelled hybrid rhino-mammoths, even a cold loving turtle. One family brought their teddy bear mascot to keep company with our museum specimen bear-skull from Tian Shan, China!

If the participants had decided not to take their animals home, then we would need to add two new cases to our new archaeology gallery to accommodate Ice Age Art: Class of 2008 .... Congratulations to you artist-archaeologists....

"I really enjoyed looking at the pottery and teeth. I would like to know all the things the Iron Age Celts ate. How did they build the round houses? Did they play sport?"

"I liked doing the music because of the really good beats! I liked looking at the pigs teeth and the Roman coin. I would like to be an archaeologist because I love history, but I don't like working in wet weather!"

"I really liked looking at the pig bones and i learnt such a lot!"

"The ceremony we did was fab and I loved our music! I wanted to wear the mask home, but I wasn't sure about tearing up the cauldron we'd made!"

"Recording the music on the computer and changing it using the technology was really cool! The bones were cool as well!"

"I liked wearing the mask and playing the music."

"I really enjoyed today because it was fun. My favourite part was doing the music and going back in time!"