Summer art activities Sian Lile-Pastore, 10 August 2011 This is a wonderful drawing by Charley of a Jester which ties in with our Tudor art theme.Don't forget that art activities are running all through August, and if you haven't been before, now is the time to visit as it's generally a little quieter in the galleries when the weather is good!
Block Blog: Primary Investigations 9 August 2011 At this juncture in the investigation of this block-lift, I am making every effort to outline the relationships (if any) between artefacts. As can be see in the first photograph, plenty of small pieces of iron plate, often with no telling association with larger plates, emerge as soil is scraped away. Aside from photographing their position for future reference, and examining them for signs of the remains of fittings, impressions of textile or leather, there is not much that can be done with these anonymous fragments. Moreover, these fragments often overlie more interesting and coherent features, and so I am generally removing these: I will most likely x-ray these in large batches at a later date. As you can tell by the annotations, I’ve begun to get a good idea of the fragile nature of the fragmentary, corroded copper and iron artefacts mixed in the burial deposit, and have begun to grasp how difficult lifting the larger pieces of lorica will be.So far I have had limited success at recovering any ‘true edges’ of the iron armour, as most of the vulnerable thin plate has been broken. Finding edges greatly improves our chances of identifying plates, and where two edges have been found, dimensions such as the width of the plate can give us an idea of which part of the lorica cuirass the plate comes from. It also helps us to make educated comparisons with examples of Roman armour found from other sites. For instance, the iron plate recovered in the second photograph has a width of 6.5 cm across, dimensions similar to those recorded for the armour fragments found amongst the Corbridge Hoard, and from the Austrian site, Carnuntum. It also has the very corroded remains of two copper alloy rivets, which improves our understanding of how the cuirass was constructed and held together.As I work I am keeping the surface of the soil block wet, by spraying it with deionised water. This prevents the soil from drying out too much, separating, and breaking the iron remains as it falls into chunks. As most of the iron is in such a poor condition, consolidation with a removable acrylic adhesive, such as Paraloid B72 (ethyl methacrylate copolymer) is a must (which is why in some photographs the iron surface appears to have a dark sheen to it). Whilst excavating an area of the block to the left of the photograph, I came across an exciting, (and sadly, very degraded) find: copper alloy wrapped around a thin iron plate. It can be seen in-situ in the photograph to the right, and after excavation in the photograph below. Sadly, as not much of the object has been recovered, a firm identification of this piece hasn’t been reached yet, though further excavation might yield more clues.Readers may have noticed that I have begun to clean the outside of what is most likely a girth hoop. The exposed iron plate is 1mm in thickness, and the hoop is broken in several places, that I can see from the surface. When focusing on this feature, I will have to be careful to remove enough soil and other burial debris to reveal the curved plate’s shape, whilst maintaining the earthy support until I am ready to remove the that section of armour from the soil block. The next blog entry will focus on describing the results of excavations in this area, which includes a copper-alloy tie loop, still associated with the iron plate.
Keeping evil at bay: Concealed garments Elen Phillips, 9 August 2011 Beneath the floorboards Adult's left boot. 9 button fastening at side (buttons missing). Used as lucky charm under floorboards at Old Gwernyfed, Felindre, Brecon. Renovating an old house? Stay alert! Who knows what you'll find beneath the floorboards or behind the walls. You might discover a deliberately concealed garment, hidden by a previous occupant to bring good luck and fertility to the home. These concealments are called 'caches' — a term deriving from the French word 'cache', meaning 'to hide'. St Fagans National History Museum has collected several caches over the years. Each new find provides a valuable insight into this little known but widely practiced folk custom. Hidden shoes A leather shoe found behind a fireplace at Ty Cerrig, Llanfachreth, in March 1994 The most frequently found hidden garments are shoes. They are usually discovered near chimneys or fireplaces, but rarely are they found in pairs. Children's shoes are the most commonly found garments. This mid 19th century leather shoe was discovered in 1994 behind a fireplace in a stone built house in Llanfachreth. The owners found four other shoes in the same location, each well-worn and in a degraded condition. They almost certainly belonged to a family unit of two parents and three children. Chimneys and fireplaces were probably chosen as hiding places because they served as the main focal point in most homes — a source of heat and comfort and an important place to congregate as a family. Shoes were also hidden under floorboards, around doorways and below staircases. Some considered these places to be the weakest part of a building, where evil spirits and witches would enter. Shoes were placed in these areas in order to trap or corner potential evil. A concealed corset A fragment of a mid-18th century corset found in a wall during restoration work to a thatched cottage in Pontarddulias Although shoes are the most frequent finds, other types of garments have also been discovered — for example, hats, jackets and breeches. This fragment of a corset was found in a thatched cottage in Cae Cerrig Road, Pontarddulais. It was discovered in 2002 lying in soil behind a thick wall to the side of the fireplace. Dating from the mid 18th century, it is roughly heart-shaped and is constructed from three layers: an outer layer of buff coloured wool, a stiffening layer of whalebone strips and a linen lining. Evidence of silk stitching remains in some areas. In its original condition, this fragment would have formed the front panel of the corset, covering the chest and abdomen. What should you do if you find a concealed garment? If possible, avoid excessive handling and contact your local museum for further guidance. Remember to take plenty of photographs or drawings of the garment in its found location. Above all, stay vigilant — that heavily worn 'rag' could be a piece of history!
Lots of talk, for some very small numbers Mari Gordon, 8 August 2011 Ok, so we had the iPad moment. What’s changed? Lots. The iPad itself was, in truth, disappointing for publishers. Beautiful, sure, but not very helpful. It wasn’t multifunctional and it wasn’t backward compatable with much stuff either (I can’t be the only person still using OS 10.4?) But, like Apple’s previous offers, it was a gamechanger. It established the tablet as a device, despite many people, myself included, wondering if anyone really wanted Job's 'third device'. Apple then let other manufacturers come up with their own versions, the best of which is probably Samsung’s Galaxy, and quietly went home to improve their own model. Having established the tablet, and just in time to catch the secondary wave of adopters, out comes iPad 2. With improved functionality and more features (camera – two, actually), it still passes itself off as the most desirable tablet, even if it’s not necessarily the best. With iPad 2 and the iPhone, Apple has now firmly entered the mainstream consumer market. In losing the geek factor, what has it gained? Well, turnover, and profit, obviously. While Apple’s top-quality combined hardware/software model of Macs retains its market-leading position in the creative industries, the iPods, Ipads and iPhones are now thoroughly high-street, even with their top-end price tags.However, part of this trajectory has been the strategic downplaying of the iPad’s e-reader function, which is what publishers were most excited about. Instead, the iPad focuses on portable, sleek, seamless acces to the web and email – truly, a big iPhone, but also ready and waiting for Web 3.0.In terms of e-readers the iPad moment just didn’t happen. This has left Amazon’s Kindle as market leader, even though it only reads Amazon’s own e-book file format (although there are rumours Amazon will soon be allowing US publishers to submit e-books in the industry-standard e-Pub format). Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, by 2010 in the US Amazon were selling more Kindle books than hardbacks; today Amazon sells more Kindle books than hardback and paperback put together. At the moment it’s selling 105 Kindle books for every 100 print books, and three times more Kindle books than this time last year. In the UK, where the Kindle store has only been open a year or so, Amazon are selling twice as many Kindle books as hardbacks.What can we learn from this? Remember, the Amazon figures only apply to their own sales, of Kindle books, which can only currently be read on a Kindle device. What’s happening across the rest of the bookselling industry? The true picture for the UK is that sales of e-books are currently 2.5% of all book purchases; interestingly, they peaked at 3% over Christmas (did you get an e-book in your stocking?!) Adult fiction is still the most popular category, at 5.4% of all purchases; men and women are buying e-books equally, and the age group 55-64 makes up over a quarter of e-book buyers.This 2.5% seems like a tiny figure for us all to be worrying so much about, especially as the value of the sales is low – about 1.6%. I still can't wait to have a go though.
