The Llandaff Beaker.

In 1992, renovations at a house in the Llandaf area of Cardiff uncovered an unusual stone slab buried by river sands and silts. Beneath the slab was a long bone and clay pot.

The pot turned out to be a beaker - a decorated clay vessel, fashionable in western Europe some 4,000 years ago, during what is known as 'the Beaker Period'. The beaker may originally have contained mead, beer or some other special brew. The stone slab marked the position of a grave.

With the cooperation and encouragement of the owners, the Department of Archaeology and Numismatics conducted an excavation in the driveway to their house, to re-expose the grave and fully excavate its contents. The enclosing cist, constructed of slabs of the local Radyr Stone, was unusual in that it was the form of a lean-to, its capstone resting at an angle of 30° contrasting with more conventional box-like, beaker cists.

Little of the skeleton remained. The expectation had been to find a crouched skeleton typical of the Beaker period, but only fragments of the cranium (the top of the skull) and limb bones survived. Additional grave-goods were unearthed, a bronze awl (a pointed tool for making holes, as in wood or leather) and a flint flake - objects that would have been buried alongside the person to be used in the 'next world'. Awls are usually associated with female burials.

Analysis of the sediment filling the grave may explain the unusual form of the cist and why only part of the skeleton was preserved. The presence of graded water-lain sediments within the grave suggests disturbance and erosion of the burial by flood water. Today the river Taff flows close by and property where the grave was discovered is built on the former floodplain of the river.

For glitz and glamour, look no further than the Tredegar Collection. This impressive collection of 18^th century costume was presented to the Museum in 1923 by Courtenay Morgan, also known as Lord Tredegar. The items belonged to his rich ancestors who wanted to flaunt their wealth and power. Each garment was designed to dazzle.

Although the Morgans owned Tredegar House near Newport, they spent most of their time in London. For the gentry, the capital was the place to be. Pleasure gardens, operas and assemblies - their lives revolved around socializing.

A royal debut

The Tredegar costumes were probably made in London, using the finest woven damasks and brocaded silks you could buy. The most elegant dress in the collection dates from around mid-1720s. The grandness of this open fronted blue gown - often called a mantua - suggests that it was made for a young lady's royal debut. The detailing is elaborate and elegant, both on the front and the back.The gown was much longer originally, but a large section was cut off during the 1800s, supposedly for a fancy dress party.

Whalebone corsets

Gowns like this one were very awkward to wear. To achieve the exaggerated look, women wore wide hoop petticoats to increase the width of their skirts. They also wore tight corsets stiffened with whalebone under their dresses. Corsets encouraged good posture by squeezing the upper body into shape. Style was more important than comfort.

This yellow brocaded frockcoat was made in the early 1720s. The floral design is typical of the period, so is the bright yellow colour.

Further reading:

M. R. Apted, 'Social Conditions at Tredegar House, Newport, in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries', The Monmouthshire Antiquary 3:2 (1972-3), pp. 124-54.

Janet Arnold, 'A Court Mantua of c. 1740', Costume: Journal of the Costume Society 6 (1972), pp. 48-52.

Avril Hart & Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: The 17^th and 18^th Centuries (London: V & A Publications, 1998).

When a miners' hospital closed in 2001, a working coalface that was used to exercise the patients for work again was dismantled and moved to the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru.

Talygarn House

Talygarn House: a view along the full-size model coalface

Talygarn House, Pontyclun, south Wales, was a large stone mansion that became a hospital in 1880. The interior is decorated with wood panelling and painted ceilings. The house is surrounded by extensive parklands on which were grown, according to legend, specimens of every tree that can be cultivated in Britain.

Talygarn as a Convalescent Home

In October 1923, Talygarn House was opened as a miners' convalescent home, and in 15 years of its opening it had more than 41,000 patients.

In 1943, the Miners' Welfare Commission was asked to organise a rehabilitation service for injured mineworkers. Due to a serious shortage of manpower at that time, it was vitally important for injured colliers to return to work as quickly as possible. For this purpose Talygarn House was purchased as a centre for the coalfields of south Wales.

By 1964, 95% of patients treated at Talygarn returned to the mining industry. It continued to serve as a rehabilitation and physiotherapy centre until it was put up for sale in August 2000.

Miner rehabilitation and the 'Model Mine'

Due to the need to harden the men up to return to the collieries, a carpentry shop was provided where patients cut wood and sawed logs. Miniature stairs and static bicycles were available to exercise unused muscles.

Talygarn House was also equipped with a grand 'Model Mine' in which patients could get used to working back in a mining environment. The structure was a long concrete tunnel supported by arch girders. The roadway was equipped with rails and the metal framework known as 'horseheads', which prevented falls of stone on a real coalface.

Relocating the mine

In 2001, the contents of the 'Model Mine' were donated to Amgueddfa Cymru as a 'permanent reminder to visitors of the work of the Talygarn rehabilitation centre'.

The coalfaces were dismantled as if they were the real thing. Despite working in only four feet of height, the thirty-foot-long chain conveyor was successfully disassembled and removed.

All the items were safely transported to the Collections Centre at Nantgarw. The Talygarn donation is a unique survival of a complete thirty-foot section of a typical semi-mechanised coalface of the early 1960s.

The death of Joan Morgan, in Bangor in 1998, ended a remarkable life in entomology [the study of insects] and resulted in a major acquisition of more than 50,000 specimens for Amgueddfa Cymru.

Mike Wilson, head of entomology at Amgueddfa Cymru inspecting the Bangor collection

Changes to teaching in British universities over the last thirty years has resulted in many teaching collections being gradually broken up or discarded.

Sometimes, these important university teaching collections have been built up over many years by dedicated individuals interested in teaching and research.

Joan Morgan

Joan Morgan moved to Bangor in 1953, teaching full-time at the University College, Bangor. For over forty years she was an enthusiastic field worker, collecting thousands of specimens, particularly from north Wales, building up an impressive insect collection at the university.

The collection's importance cannot be over-emphasized. It provides evidence of many species at many locations, along with reference material and around 60,000 card based records.

On retirement, Joan Morgan continued to maintain and add to the collection. After her death, the college agreed that the collection should be transferred to Amgueddfa Cymru.

The collection contains around 50,000 specimens, mostly British, and covers all groups of insects, including an excellent representation of specimens from north Wales.

After a quarantine period in a freezer the specimens were successfully integrated into the entomology collections at the Museum. This helped the Museum create the most important collection of Welsh insects in Britain. It is a very valuable resource for research by scientists worldwide.