And lots more! So come along and dig in!!

The Annual GGAT Archaeological Extravaganza takes place this Saturday 18th July from 10.30am-4pm at Swansea Musuem, Victoria Road, Swansea, and kicks off GGATs part in the ‘Festival of British Archaeology‘ a 16-day Festival, organised by The Council for British Archaeology.

The aim of this annual event is to encourage everyone, especially young people and their families to visit sites of archaeological/historical interest or museums, heritage and resource centres, to see archaeology in action and to take part in activities on-site. This is a chance for the people of Swansea and its surroundings to find out about their heritage and archaeology of the region.

There will be something for all on the day:

• Roman cookery
• Mystery excavation
• Prehistoric pottery
• Medieval archers
• Meet a coal miner
• Recreate a face from the past

Also, have you ever found an old coin, a piece of worked stone, a metal object or a piece of pottery, and ever wondered what it was? Maybe you found it in your garden, on a beach or while out walking.

Why not bring them along as we will be running an archaeological finds identification roadshow, as all archaeological finds – though initially they might seem unimportant – have the potential to advance archaeological knowledge.

For more information contact: Roger Gale at Swansea Museum or Caroline Thomas at curatorial@ggat.org.uk

A post-medieval pipe bowl and shank, originally excavated during coal removal in the Ffos y fran opencast, Merthyr Tydfill and transported with the coal to the mixing and grading depot where it was spotted by a sharp-eyed worker.

Post-medieval pipe bowl and shank

How does it work?

If you go down to the community excavation today you’re sure of a big surprise- strange bar codes are popping up all around the site!

These two-dimensional bar codes are being pioneered by the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, who are using this new mobile phone technology as part of their outreach initiative at the Oystermouth Castle community excavation. The codes provide the public with location-specific web-hosted audio guides and links so that visitors can view current finds and hear current audio news, and it is hoped in the future, video footage of the excavation.

The bar codes, known as QR codes – QR stands for “Quick Response” – are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two-dimensional codes. Most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera. QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about.

Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL.

For more information on QR codes visit Wikipedia

If your phone does not possess a QR reader there are numerous free readers to download on the web.

QR code located next to trench 3

QR code linked to website

In March 2009 the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust’s Projects Division recorded a short section of hurdle trackway, which had eroded out of the marine clay on the Swansea foreshore.  The site was initially located by Brian Price, a member of the Swansea Metal Detecting Club, who reported his discovery to the Trust’s Portable Antiquities Recording Officer.

The hurdle panel, which formed the trackway, was woven from narrow branches of oak and alder, identified by Astrid Caseldine and Catherine Griffiths of the University of Wales, Lampeter.  A simple oak peg had been driven through the hurdle panel into the underlying ground surface to hold the trackway securely in place.  The entire structure was covered in a thin layer of brushwood to provide a level walking-surface.  A single sample from the trackway was sent to the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Laboratory in Florida for AMS dating; and was dated to the early Bronze Age (Cal BC 2140 to 1930 (Cal BP 4090 to 3880) with a 2 Sigma Calibration (Beta: 257022)).

During the early Bronze Age the climate was drier and warmer than today and the sea level was significantly lower.  The trackway was therefore probably built through a wet, marshy environment.  Because it has been eroded by the tide it is impossible to tell whether the entire trackway was composed of hurdles, or whether occasional hurdles were laid to cross particularly wet patches of ground.

Plan of exposed section of Early Bronze Age hurdle

The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, in association with the Friends of Oystermouth Castle, Swansea City Council and Swansea University, will be carrying out a dig in the grounds of Oystermouth Castle between 29th June and 17th July this year (including Saturdays and Sundays), and there will be the opportunity for you to join in.

We will be excavating outside the west tower, looking for the outer wall and the ditch, and on the Knoll, to see what’s there (a geophysical survey commissioned by the Friends suggests that there are walls).

We are looking for volunteers to come and work on the project. You could learn how to excavate, how to record what we discover, or how to deal with the objects that we find. Just download and fill in the application forms and we will fit you into the programme. Volunteers will need to be 18+ to work on the site, but under-18s are welcome to join in the finds work.

If that sounds too strenuous, you are welcome to come and see what we find. Guided tours will be arranged throughout the dig so you can keep abreast of the discoveries.

Booking is essential if you want to volunteer (send in your forms to reach us by 15th June). If you just want to see what’s happening you can turn up at any time for the next tour.

Visit the Oystermouth Castle Excavation page on the GGAT website to download an application form.

This stunning barbed and tanged arrowhead was recently discovered on farmland at Newton, Swansea, by Jan Davies of the Swansea Metal Detecting Club. The finely pressure flaked arrowhead is triangular in shape, 3cm long by 2cm at its widest and made of grey patinated flint.

Possible iron staining is visible along the right hand edge but this may belong to an older patination, some cortex is also visible (sandy looking spots). One of the two tangs is missing (right), as is the central node between the two crushed notches where it would have possibly been attached to an arrow shaft.

This type of tool is common to the earlier Bronze Age (2800 – 1800 BC), a time when the Beaker Culture was prevalent in south Wales. The Beaker Culture is so called because of elaborately decorated ceramic beakers found in burials. Barbed and tanged arrowheads are sometimes found along with human burials in large earthen round barrows, such as those in the Vale of Glamorgan at Breach Farm, Llyswyrny and at Sutton, Llandow. Many fine barbed and tanged arrowheads were placed with single burials in these round barrows. The fact that this arrowhead does not appear to have come from a burial may indicate it was lost during an activity such as hunting.

Barbed and Tanged Arrowhead

GGAT’s Archaeological Planning Officer Judith Doyle is featured in a new online video for Welsh learners

The video was made as part of the new “Pecyn Ymarfer” – Practice Pack for Welsh Speakers and Learners in association with St Fagans National Museum of Welsh Life as part of the new Perthyn Exhibition. It provides explanation of why and how people speak and learn Welsh and to encourage other learners.  Full details are available from the St Fagans website and follow links to Perthyn – Belonging.

Roedd y fideo hwn gwneud fel rhan o’r Newydd “Pecyn Ymarfer” – Practice Pack am ddysgwyr Cymraeg a siaradwr – gyda Amgueddfa Werin Cymru yn Sain Ffagan fel rhan o’r arddangosfa newydd Perthyn. Mae’n darparu gwybodaeth yn pham a phryd mae pobl yn siarad a ddysgu yr iaith Cymraeg ac annog ddysgwyr eraill. Mae manylion llawn ar gael o’r wefan Sain Ffagan Sain Ffagan a ddilynwch y linc Perthyn – Belonging.

The presence of a small wooden feature located approximately 330m south of the promenade on the Swansea foreshore was reported to Steve Sell, (GGAT’s Portable Antiquities Recording Officer) by Brian Price of the Swansea Metal Detector Club in the summer of 2008.

An initial site visit was conducted by GGAT field-staff with Brian Price on the 6th September 2008 during which the feature was tentatively identified as a short section of hurdle, and that a funding grant should be made to Cadw to enable further investigation of the feature. Cadw authorised a grant for the work to be carried out in early 2009 and a small team from GGAT Projects conducted a rescue excavation at the beginning of this month.

Working within a narrow tidal window the feature was cleaned, positively identified as a short section of hurdle, photographed and drawn. The six largest timbers from the hurdle where recovered for detailed post-excavation study, AMS dating and species identification. It is hoped that the AMS dating (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) will return a date during the Iron Age and thus be comparably to features recorded on the Brynmill Peat Shelf in 1992.

Currently two interpretations of the feature are postulated, firstly that it represents the remains of a fallen hurdle leader fence, used for guiding fish into single-basket, tidal fish-trap; secondly that it represents the remains of a hurdle trackway used to cross a particularly marshy piece of ground.

Come and visit GGAT at the 2009 Archaeology Festival being held in Cardiff over the weekend of 7-8 February.

The 2009 Archaeology Festival hosted by Current Archaeology and this year in conjunction with Cardiff University and the National Museum, Wales is the UK’s biggest and most popular archaeology conference. The GGAT stand will bring you right up to date with recent work undertaken by the Trust, you will have the opportunity to investigate the archaeology of the Southeast Wales area with our interactive Historic Ennvironment Record and GGAT’s friendly staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

To book tickets and to find further details please visit the Current Archaeology website.

Recent investigations at Ffos-y-fran have identified the remains of three rectangular structures believed to be a part of the remains of the 19th century Penydarren Brickworks, adjacent to the Sarn Howell Pond. The two eastern buildings are aligned east to west and are roughly comparable in size (c7.5m x 4.5m), whilst the western building is only partially exposed. All three buildings form part of the brick manufacturing process from the preparation of the raw material through to moulding/setting, drying and firing. The brickworks is likely to have served the Penydarren Colliery, including buildings associated with its incline tramroad to the GWR line at Cwm-bargoed and numerous small scale local industrial concerns. The brickworks is thought to have had a comparatively short life since it is shown in use on the OS 2nd Ed map (1901) but retired by the publication of the OS 3rd Ed map (1920).

During the evaluation of an area to the south of the site on the edge of the Taff-bargoed Valley we have discovered a large mound or cairn of stones directly beneath the topsoil. The cairn appears to contain a centralised rectangular arrangement of inverted stones, which may be a Bronze Age burial mound. However, further investigation is needed to prove its provenance. Bronze Age round barrow cairns are a type of monument which can be found broadly distributed on the nearby Gelligaer Common.  For more information on cairns visit the Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites in Southeast Wales project pages on the GGAT website http://www.ggat.org.uk/cadw/fun_rit/english/cairn.html

In an area adjacent to the supposed cairn, several features have been identified, which include a possible cremation burial. A small quantity of burnt bone was recovered from a shallow pit that was surrounded by an area of burning. Although highly probable as a burial, the recovery of worked pieces of flint in the immediate vicinity along with more evidence of burning may indicate that this is food waste rather than funerary in origin.