By now I've started to do a bit of fieldwork. I started by recording Sirajul Islam, Bengali by birth, but now studying for a degree through the medium of Welsh. He has a fascinating story, and this will be in our archive for future generations to peruse and study.

Another project that I've started is trying to beef up the Youth corner of Oriel 1. The screen which is currently showing stills of Maes B events from the past will soon have a lively video of the events from 2007. The Meic Stevens guitar case will hopefully be clearly signed and will contain records and pictures to complement the story.

With the imminent launch of the Virtual Museum, there are a few projects to prepare for that, namely the Community Dresser objects, and interviews held with young people during Eisteddfod week.

I'm also involved in an exciting new project to build a turf round house at the Celtic Village, a radical new design that will turn archaeological theory on its head!

Other than that, I'm visiting Newport Museum this week to discuss their Pop exhibition plans, and have been on Welsh television and radio to promote Oriel 1 and the work that I'm doing. Things are beginning to move quite swiftly!

Iawn te! Bywyd yn Oriel 1!

Dyma fi yn fy swydd newydd fel dehonglydd Oriel 1, oriel newydd Sain Ffagan yn sgwennu blog am y tro cynta! Fe fydd, fel yr Oriel yn un arbrofol felly! (Ac fel Owain...nes i sgwennu hwn unwaith a cholli'r cwbl...ti'n meddwl sa'n well i ni gael gwersi?!!) Yn anffodus, ar hyn o bryd rwy'n eistedd wrth ddesg yn syllu ar olygfa ddigon llwyd drwy'r ffenest.

Mae ambell sied wedi eu ffensio ag arwydd 'keep out' a 'Site Canteen' i'w gweld ac adeilad mawr siedaidd yn gefndir. O wel, er mwyn cyfleu ychydig o naws y lle bydd rhaid i fi ddychmygu felly fy mod i'n eistedd yng nghanol yr Oriel. O fy mlaen i, mae superted a'i gefn tuag ata i a'i ben e'n pwyso ar hen arwydd y pentref a fu unwaith, 'CAPEL CELYN'.

Uwch ei ben, mae Sgrabble yn Gymraeg a rhes o oleuade bach gwyn yn goleuo'r casyn gwydr y mae'n eistedd ynddo.

Yn nes ata i mae dros gant o recordie saith modfedd o'r 60au a'r 70au yn garped lliwgar lliwgar ar y wal, ac yn treiddio drwy'r awyr mae cerddoriaeth hudolus hamddenol.

Ar y wal y tu ol i mi mae lluniau gan blant yn dawnsio ar y wal ar ffilm. O gyfeiriad arall mae swn gwahanol, clychau a baban yn crio, ac yn y pellder swn torf yn dathlu ym mharc yr arfau. Wrth droi o gwmpas rwy'n gweld drychau mawr ar y wal ac yn hongian o'u hamgylch mae dillad sy'n eich gwahodd i'w teimlo a'u gwisgo.

Ddoe, roedd criw o blant yn dawnsio o amgylch y 'juke box' ac ymwelwyr yn rhyfeddu ar wydr lliw a wnaed gan SMYLe, grwp o fwslemiaid ifanc o Abertawe. Roedd plant bach yn gwneud llwyau caru papur gydag un o'r artisiaid fydd yn gweithio yn yr Oriel bob dydd ym mis Awst gyda'r Cert Celf. Roedd merched yn eu harddegau yn gigls i gyd yn cael tro'n cario'r ddol mewn siol yn y dull Cymreig a thatcu yn rhyfeddu ar ei wyrion bach yn gwrando'n astud ar glustffonau arbennig ar straeon ac atgofion o gasgliadau'r archif. Mae cymaint wedi digwydd yn yr Oriel, dawnsio o dros y byd, artistiaid yn perfformio a darlithiau a sgyrsiau o bob math.

Ond well i fi fynd nawr i wneud ychydig o waith paratoi ar gyfer y gweithdau a'r gweithgareddau fydd yn yr Oriel. Mwy o hanesion am gymeriadau a bywyd Oriel 1 i ddod!

Now this entry is going to be concise. I had just finished an extended version of the last month, in English and Welsh, pressed publish, and everything disappeared. So, I'm sulking. In brief, this is how last month went:

June 18 - Meeting with National Library of Wales. Discussed collecting websites, TV programmes and records, amongst other things (ephemera, how to record Youtube etc) Very interesting, and a big thanks to all at the Library for the welcome.

June 19 and 20 - Digital Storytelling workshop with the BBC. A technique which is very useful to record contemporary life. Visit website at www.bbc.co.uk/wales/capturewales/

June 21 - Digital Storytelling Conference missed due to illness

June 23 - Family wedding

June 24 to July 1 - Holiday in Caernarfon

July 6 and 7 - Oral History conference in London. Again, a technique which is very useful to record contemporary life.

July 12 (tomorrow) - Meeting with Johnstown History Group to discuss curating for the Community Dresser.

If anybody is interested in learning more about these things, then please contact me. In the original Blog, I managed to mention, Glyn Wise off Big Brother, setting up a virtual museum in Second Life, a Welsh name for Facebook and numerous other fascinating things. But there we go, such is the ficklelessness of the ether.

Contributed by CAROLINE

Today we were blessed with yet more sunshine- perhaps summer is here afterall!

Here’s an update from the trenches…

Trench 1: The largest trench

The Eastern half of trench one has been behaving itself quite well and a series of features have been revealed and their function is often evident. The majority of the features are postholes, some are shallow, while others are quite deep and have in some instances post packing intact. Some of these postholes and pits have had prehistoric pottery within them and are therefore prehistoric in date. However, not all contained dating evidence (pottery or coins etc) and so their date is unknown. It is difficult at present to determine what postholes are likely to be contemporary to each other, but hopefully when we have drawn a full plan of the trench we will see if the postholes form a pattern- rectangular, circular or otherwise. However, there are so many postholes that the pattern is so far highly confused as they seem to be from a series of structures dating from very different periods. As one person has commented, its like trying to do a puzzle without a picture. There is also quite a large curvilinear gulley which seems to have both been cut by a ditch on the one side, while the other appears to have cut an earlier ditch. While in the Western half of the trench the features are slightly more complicated. Again we seem to have two, maybe three gullies, one of which is very shallow. Two of these gullies may be at right angles to each other and one of which is cut by a later post hole. There is also a large rubble-filled ditch and another potential rubble-filled ditch about 2m away.

Trench 2: the L shaped trench

This trench is quite confusing. An extremely deep feature appears to be a natural geological hollow filled in with dumps of occupation debris from the settlement. A slot was dug down through the feature to the natural base and there appears to be a very substantial glacial fill at the base of this hollow. In one area this pit/natural hollow appears to have been cut by a later shallow pit, which was filled with a high concentration of ash and iron objects. There are also a series of postholes, but these do not seem to make up any discernable structures.

Trench 3

This trench was intended for exposing and excavating a sample of the enclosure ditch which appears to have been cut during the middle-late Iron Age. The ditch is approximately 1.3m deep and encloses a sizeable area – creating such a feature would have taken a lot of effort, manpower and time. The ditch appears to have then become naturally filled in with soil, washed or blown in from elsewhere. Then in the 2nd or 3rd century AD, it was recut, this time much shallower than before and therefore less substantial and not so impressive but again this may have formed a defensive function or possibly demonstrating the resources of the inhabitants. Alongside there was a large area of rubble which was initially believed to be the remnants of a bank( banks quite often accompany ditches), but has since proved to be otherwise. This rubble is instead derived from a series of rubble-filled features, a number of which have now been exposed. There are also 2 pit like features which are similar in character to each other. The southern most of these ditches has clearly been cut by the ditch, we can therefore say that the pit is earlier than the ditch.

Contributed by CAROLINE and pupils from LLANTWIT MAJOR COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL

Today good fortune was with us again with amazing sunshine. We had a visit from 14 year 7 school children and their teacher from Llantwit Major Comprehensive, the site visit took place between 9 until 1pm. The fieldtrip was not compulsory, instead the children volunteered to visit Llanmaes, I asked Kirsty whether her reasons for visiting Llanmaes was to skip lessons but instead Kirsty seemed genuinely interested in visiting the site and is very interested in history. Kirsty has visited the site before and so it is very encouraging that she wished to visit again, perhaps we have a budding archaeologis? Another student- Yegor seemed to be enjoying his first visit to the site.

The students were taught how to use a dumpy level, and using angles and height measurements helped us position canes to plot out the outline of the enclosure surrounding the site. This helps us and the school children to visually see its shape and grand scale. Again these students were from geography class and following their visit are expected to write up a small report about their visit, about what they enjoyed and learnt. Photographs and video footage accompany the students visit today. The children were expected to use the dumpy level to lay out correct angles and to determine the height of the staff and using tape measures.

One student Becky has had previous experience with archaeology having once been a member of a Young Archaeologists Club in Shetland, she was a member of the club for 2 years and made many new friends. Found pottery and recreated the pot where possible. Becky learnt about prehistory, and the work of an archaeologist. Two years a member. Made new friends at the club. Becky has very much enjoyed learning about archaeology at Llanmaes and at the club in Shetland which was held during school time. When at the club Becky considered becoming an archaeologist, but its been two years now since she left the archaeology club (because she moved house) and Becky has changed her career choice to being hopefully a beautician with her own business.

3 groups of year seven geography students have now visited us at Llanmaes, 2 in one day previously and today just one group, this is however the last. Next week follow up activities are planned at their school. These activities include art, poetry, music and creative writing. An afternoon of creative writing is planned following their visit to the site. The children are expected to write about what life may have been like for the inhabitants during the prehistoric and roman era. The Welsh poet of the year is coming in to help the children create poetry and a musician (a drummer) is visiting to carry out music workshops. These visits to the site are intended as a way of archaeology forging links with the community and giving the children an insight as to what it is like to be an archaeology student. The site visit has been very much cross curricular in nature, particularly for history and geography. This was intended mainly as a geography fieldtrip as the children are learning to appreciate why the inhabitants would have chosen to occupy this site. They will also look at aerial photographs to understand how archaeologists often find sites through cropmarks as well as see the settlement in its wider landscape setting in terms of nearby features such as brroks and drainage of the soil, relief, temperature and climate.