In Easter [2012] the Vale of Glamorgan Council will open the village to the public for free. As part of this it is believed the site will no longer have living actors. The animals have already been rehomed. Instead visitors will be offered audio guides and the site will lose two full-time members of staff.

These changes sparked a vocal response from the local community. Many of these passionate campaigners have now got together to form the Cosmeston Medieval Village Trust, a new group who will be working in partnership with Vale of Glamorgan Council to secure the future of the site:

Cuts in the Council budgets led in the spring of 2012 to the decision to reduce staffing levels and the decision that the Council would no longer organise events at the village.

There was considerable concern in the Vale about the potential loss of this unique asset, leading to the setting up of a campaign group and a 2,000 plus signed petition.

A decision was taken by the group to try and find a way of working in partnership with the Vale Council, to support the future development of the village and safeguard it for the future.

This led to the decision to establish the Cosmeston Medieval Village Trust Ltd which was incorporated as a not for profit limited company in November 2012.

The Trust are actively seeking new members and volunteers to help create a Cosmeston for current and future generations. If you would like to get involved, either physically or just to support their work, please consider joining!

We hope to bring you an account on the conservation of the Cosmeston archive soon, so if you enjoyed this video keep your eyes peeled!

+Matt Nicholas

An aquamanile in context

Work on the pottery assemblage from the Cardiff University excavations at the Cosmeston manor house (2009-2011) has been rather a large job. I am still in the process of cataloguing the final group from 2009 which produced the greatest amount of pottery out of the three seasons. So far the total number of sherds comes to around 6000, and this will certainly rise by the time I have finished. As you can imagine three years of digging has produced a rather sizeable quantity of material, with pottery dating from the early post-conquest years in the late 11^th, early 12^th centuries, right up to the 19^th century. For the most part the material is medieval and early post-medieval (16th –17th century) but the distribution of the pottery is particularly telling, and this has significantly added to our understanding of the demolition of the medieval manorial building and the later phases of the activity associated with it.

The Cosmeston aquamanile close up. It's nose forms the spout through which water would have poured.

The aquamanile was found in one of the large demolition layers with sherds scattered predominantly in the area dug during last season’s work (June-July 2011). The demolition layers are sealing the medieval archaeology in all the trenches dug by the University in this area. Each year a new number has been assigned to the layer, but by looking at the descriptions and discussion on the context sheets it is possible to join them up and prove that it is a consistent presence across the site. This widespread layer (up to  0.5m deep in some areas) is made up of large limestone rocks, patches of clay, mortar and silty soil. It’s not a particularly nice layer to dig and one which requires good mattocking skills. This context is very much the result of the robbing of the manor house walls, with very few cut and shaped stones left; only the core material which comprises of angular chunks of limestone, clay and bonding mortar remains. We also get a large amount of roof tiles, now broken up into smaller parts, adding further evidence to the conclusion that the context represents the pulling down and destruction of the medieval manor house. The pottery in this layer may also represent the vessels that were being used by the household in the last years of the building’s life.

As well as demolition layers we also find numerous large post-medieval pits. In 2009 and 2010 a large pit was found dug into the main north wall of the manor house. In 2011 the Nuremburg Jetton was discovered towards the bottom of another pit (see here for a photo) which had disturbed the later building to the north of the main manor house.

The pottery we find from the demolition layers is generally consistent. In the main demolition layers there is a real mix of later 13th- 14th century pottery along with 16th and 17th century sherds. The aquamanile was distributed and mixed up with a lot of other material including other Vale Ware jugs, consequently piecing together and understanding the shape and size of the vessel was initially perplexing. The pitting introduces later ceramic material as well as bringing up the medieval material initially buried with the building debris. This creates more of a mix of material, but because there is so much post-medieval pottery come up from some areas this enables us to identify the later activity and continued use of the area.

An aquamanile in detail

Aquamaniles are typically zoomorphic in shape, although you do find some with general jug bodies. Knights and rams are particularly popular in Britain and have been found from sites all over the country. These high status vessels would have been used for hand washing before meals. Initially it was thought that the aquamanile from Cosmeston was a zoomorphic type similar to the reconstruction (based on an example from Scarborough ) displayed in the village. During August however, while examining the archive of material excavated by GGAT in their 1987 Castle Trench, I found the back of the rim and the handle which confirmed that only the rim had the ram decoration. It has been questioned whether the vessel was a normal jug rather than an aquamanile but the presence of a rounded spout for the snout of the ram rather than the normal lipped and pulled spout indicates that the function of this vessel is more in keeping with that of an aquamanile. Other locally produced ram aquamaniles have been found during excavations at Cardiff and Rumney Castles, and they too likely had a jug shaped body rather than complete zoomorphic form. This could indicate a design particular to the local area.

The ram decoration is interesting with regards to the construction of the vessel. It appears that the general shape has been made in a very similar way to the general jugs forms. The ram horns have been added on and neatly incorporated into the rim which has been shaped to look like wool on the very top. The additional missing rim sherd with the handle was easy to spot as part of the aquamanile because of this wool decoration. The handle itself is decorated with stabbing running down the centre; this is a general decorative form found on many other handles. The body of the vessel has small pellet decoration running round the circumference at particular points. This decorative element is not only seen on this vessel, but also on other jugs also found in the same demolition layers. It was pointed out by one student on the post-excavation course that the additional ceramic pellet decoration looked a little like the stitching on leather water carriers. This emulation of a leather vessel is interesting as ceramic aquamaniles are considered the poorer brother of metal aquamaniles.

Wool style decoration incorporated into the rim at the spout (top) and handle (bottom, click to see large image).

It is difficult to provide definite dimensions for the vessel as little survives. We can say that the diameter of the rim was 12cm, unfortunately there are not enough sherds to provide any information on its height. It will take a lot of patience and time to work through all the sherds to see whether they belong to the aquamanile or not, and so far I have not found anyone with the time or patience to have a go.

Ceramic pellet decoration on body sherds resembling stitching on leather water carriers

The clay and minerals the aquamanile is produced from (called a fabric by archaeologists) is fairly standard for Vale Ware jugs. Vale Ware is the type of ceramic fabric typically found in South Glamorgan. Evidence for pottery production in the region is slim, and the only site which has any direct evidence for this is in the grounds of the former Bishop’s palace at Llandaff (now the Cathedral School). Here where a small group of kiln waste (such as pots that failed during firing) was found in a large medieval ditch. Despite evidence for production only coming from this one site, the fabric of the wasters excavated at Llandaff clearly supports the idea that Vale Ware was made in this region. It is also very likely that there are other, yet to be discovered, sites in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Vale Ware jugs have a very standard make up. The minerals added to the clay in order to help the vessels survive the firing process are generally quartz and iron oxides. The quartz is typically a white colour and the iron oxides appear as red and black inclusions. The aquamanile is made of the same clay mix as other Vale Ware vessels, allowing the potter to use their knowledge and skills for making the jugs with just the additional decorative elements added to create the ram.

The Cosmeston aquamanile is, I think, my favourite example of the style. Its face is amazing and the detail on the horns and the woolly rim are incredibly endearing; someone took a lot of time and care making him. The actual vessel itself is not as technologically superior as the zoomorphic ceramic examples, and this may reflect the standard of ceramic technology in South Glamorgan during the medieval period. It is particularly interesting that locally produced wheel thrown vessels are not really found in the archaeological record until the very late medieval and post-medieval transitional phase. This lack of technological development may have meant that styles beyond normal forms were not generally attempted; consequently in the late 13th-early 14th century (when the aquamanile was made) a jug body would have been the chosen form. What is clear is that the aquamanile was one vessel within a group of table wares including jugs and a spouted pitcher which would have adorned the dining table in the manor.

The Cosmeston aquamanile in full colour

Cosmeston at winter. Photo credit: Andy Cardiff, image provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence (CC BY 2.0).

It is now officially 4 months from the end of the dig, and every day it gets harder and harder. Some of us have been able to return to our “normal” lives, only to secretly put on a onesie at night and cry ourselves to sleep.  Others, however, still can’t cope with the reality of the dig ending and still visit Cosmeston every time the sun goes down to dig an endless hole that will certainly hit New Zealand at some point.

Wow, that was incredibly depressing, I do apologize. To make up for you here is a joke:

Most mothers tell their daughters to marry doctors… I told mine to marry an archeologist because the older she gets, the more interested he will be in her.

I’d better move on before I make the internet implode.

Now, the reason I am writing here is that me and Tom have been working on a documentary of Cosmeston, and we thought that you may want to lose a couple of minutes of your possibly short life to look at our masterwork! It contains footage of the digging, interviews, cool music, lazy people doing nothing and interesting archaeological stuff. It does not contain chocolate, seals, French bread or overweight walruses.

Back to the serious stuff. The aim of this documentary is to show all the non-believers the awesomeness of archaeology, as well as giving the “general public” a way of understanding and enjoy our discoveries. Even though I have no idea who this Public is, or why he was appointed General.

Now, to get to the final result we had to go through many many many phases. So many you can’t count them.

There were three phases:

1. Writing the script. Me and Tom figured out the structure of the video, by planning out a story board, and writing the narration, with the help of the supervisors.
2. Taping. I spend a couple of days going around the trenches asking people to pretend to work. I’d like to emphasis the “pretend” part.
3. Editing. Tom provided the fantastic music and I was forced to look through the same 900 clips for hours on end.
4. There is no point four.
5. And there certainly is no point five.

What else can I say? Have fun!

And play this fantastic game: try counting how many people are not working in the background.

Peace y’all!

And now, what you’ve all been waiting for, TOM’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE BLOG

(sorry, I accidentally put caps lock on)

So.

I would like to thank Rob for what he wrote above. 398 words of pure literary genius. I don’t know what you think, but I reckon Steven King had better watch his back. If you’re wondering why I chose Steven King, it’s because Rob is scary. It all adds to the joke.

Moving on. Rob’s already done a rather splendid job of telling you about the making of our film and I hope you’ll all agree that it turned out well (if you have yet to watch it, stop reading now. It’s better than most films currently on at the cinema. Still reading? You disappoint me). I’m still a bit annoyed Rob didn’t include a bird shot (you know, those pointless shots in documentaries of birds flying) and that he cut out parts of my lovingly composed soundtrack, but I’ve got over it. The amateur filmmaker’s arch nemesis Mr Wind didn’t make too much of an appearance, Rob didn’t make any spelling mistakes in the titles and credits and the camera didn’t pick up any arguments about Jurassic Park. Success.

Concerning the sequel. All good sequels follow the same formula as the first film but build upon it. For example, Alien. Throw a load more aliens in. Call it Aliens. Sorted. This leads me to believe that the only way to pull off Cosmeston II is to do the same. Throw a load more aliens in. Call it Alien 5. Done. BAFTAs.

And at least an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Soundtrack, obviously.

So like Rob said, it’s been a while since the dig. My trowel Mortimer is sitting a mere metre away from me as I type, practically shouting at me to let him have a good rummage in some sandy silt. OR IS IT SILTY SAND??? Mortimer doesn’t care. As long as it’s not clay. He’d be happy with a simple game of ‘trowel’ (two people stand together, one throws a trowel into the ground, the other has to put their foot where the trowel is and the game continues), but my garden’s one of those rubbish ones that’s filled in with concrete. Poor Mortimer. Poortimer.

Concerning my beloved aquamanile (yes, I found it), it’s having a whale of a time. I was thinking about writing ‘a ram of a time’, but I don’t think that would have worked. Simply Googling ‘cosmeston aquamanile’ gives you a number of pages from various websites about the object, which I think is rather nifty. Something which just 5 months ago was dug up by my trowel is now all over the internet. I’m proud of you, aquamanile. I should probably give you a name. Perhaps I’ll name you after the band Rammstein. You know. Because it’s a Ram.

Anyway I’ve probably gone on too long, but I wanted to make sure I’d written more words than Rob. Just to annoy him. I hope that reading this blog and watching the documentary has been both enjoyable and educational. Or maybe a good excuse for procrastination. Have the day off. Watch the film a few times. Read the previous blog entries. Look at some photos of the lovely stuff we found. You can stop putting things off starting tomorrow.

And thus endeth the word of Tom (172 words more than Rob’s).

This exciting 17 minute odyssey takes you behind the scenes and beneath the ground to show you the latest discoveries at one of South Wales’ most important and unique heritage attractions.

Written and directed by Cardiff undergraduate auteurs Robert Barrett and Tom Durbin we guarantee that you will enjoy this more than Time Team!

If you would like to know more about how the film was produced then read our exclusive ‘making of’ blog by Rob and Tom.

If you have enjoyed this video then please also check out Tom and Rob’s personal YouTube channels.

Rob: http://www.youtube.com/plutonchannel

Tom: http://www.youtube.com/mayjatom

Beyond post excavation work in the labs at Cardiff University the project has produced an article in this month’s Current Archaeology (an issue that also features the work of fellow Cardiff archaeologist Professor Alasdair Whittle on dating the Neolithic). Two members of the team are also in Austria at the biennial Ruralia conference. Ruralia is:

an international association for the archaeology of medieval settlement and rural life. It provides a colloquium of current problems in rural archaeology from most participating European countries to strengthen the exchange of knowledge in, and the development of, archaeologically comparable studies, and to make archaeological results available to other disciplines

Professor John Hines and finds co-ordinator/PhD student Alice Forward will be presenting a paper on Friday (near Austria? Plenty of time to get across and attend!) titled:

Cosmeston, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales: multiple narratives of rural settlement and power

We will seek to bring you behind the scene low-down on this talk (along with other news) soon!

Cadw are working in partnership with Archaeology Wales, the local community, with local schools,and  the Council of British Archaeology.Cardiff University School of History, Archaeology and Religion and the National Museum of Wales are also involved in this exciting project at Tinkinswood and the surrounding area.

The project is running an in-depth community blog, which provides a wealth of background information in English and Welsh:

It gives a good impression of how megalithic tombs like this would have appeared in the past, although originally the capstone and the south side would have been completely covered with an earthen mound. It is set in a sloping valley with views to the south-west towards Barry. The site lies above a small stream, which has cut through the limestone. Geologically it is in an area of Triassic formation. It would have been an attractive place for Early Neolithic activity or settlement, with a water supply close by, soil suitable for cultivation, and with a variety of locally available lithic materials.

Interior of Tinkinswood Neolithic tomb

This is a fantastic opportunity to investigate, excavate and preserve one of the Vale of Glamorgan’s most impressive Neolithic monuments. If you are interested  in getting involved then please contact Ffion through twitter or email at ffion[dot]reynolds@wales.gsi.gov.uk

+Matt Nicholas

…focus on three main interactive themes: Future Animals, an art-based workshop examining our relationship with animals in the past and asking participants to design animals for the future; Fur Trade or Who Am I Wearing?, which asks people to guess which animals we use for clothes and to think about both production techniques and the sustainability of past, present and future fabrics; and Festival Archaeology – exploring what archaeology can be found at the festival, both traditional and non-traditional and how we use science to understand this….

Working with artist Paul Evans, the students and staff will encourage participants to use their imagination to travel back in time to discover past animals, drowned worlds and ancient fashion. They will be able to handle archaeological artefacts, learn about the archaeology of the Green Man festival site and Wales, and peg significant events onto the ‘washing line of time’ – as well as creating future fashion, accessories and models. Finally, festival-going public will be asked to create and design what future animals will look like, with the help of the artist.

Back to the Future will be open between 10am and 8pm over the duration of the Festival. The event is supported by Cardiff University, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and National Museum of Wales.

(Source: Cardiff University News)

There will also be some Cosmeston Pottery to handle and a host of experts (including Day of Archaeology’s Matt Law and Dr Jacqui Mulville) to answer all your archaeology and heritage questions.

If you can’t make the festival, then don’t worry, you can follow Back to the Future’s progress on Twitter here.

+Matt Nicholas