Visitors are welcome to latest Cosmeston Medieval Village excavation this month
Archaeological investigations carried out by Cardiff University and community volunteers are now underway at Cosmeston Medieval Village for over a month to discover more about the medieval manor house known as Cosmeston Castle, and its relationship with the surrounding area.
A team of 20 first and second year archaeology students and staff from Cardiff School of History and Archaeology are digging in a 100 square metre open air excavation on the manor house site. They aim to discover more about the Medieval site and both pre and post medieval Cosmeston, given finds found last year from different periods including the Tudor period, suggesting continuous use over hundreds of years.
Community Archaeologist Jane Stewart adds ‘We’ll be explaining what we find at our free public daily tours at 11am and 2pm. We hope to see more of our local community, and anyone interested in archaeology. The beauty of a dig is you never know what you will find. Come along and see for yourself.’
Visitors are welcome from 10am til 4pm daily (excluding Fridays). The site can be seen from both lanes and is accessible on foot. Interested members of the public are invited to free guided tours to find out more first-hand about current progress, the history of the site and recent finds. Anyone wanting to join free tours at 11am or 2pm (Saturdays to Thursdays), should meet at the Cosmeston Medieval Village Visitor Centre entrance.
There are competitions running for under 5s, 5 to 8 year olds, 8 to 10 year olds and 11 to 16 year olds throughout the dig. Just pick up your entry form at the Visitor Centre on site.
A new Discovery Box – an exciting tool for teachers and community groups to learn more about archaeology and the site – is now available thanks to Beacon for Wales support. Anyone interested should contact Laura Henderson at Cardiff School of History and Archaeology by emailing [email protected] or phoning 029 2087 0404.
Once again this year a small number of young people applying to study Archaeology at Cardiff University will join the team this year in an innovative scheme to experience a ‘taster’ week of excavation with Cardiff School of History and Archaeology.
Last year after careful research, including landscape survey, the team opened up two new trenches in the Village Events field and re-opened a trench from the 2008 investigations in the Dovecote field totalling 100 sq metres for further investigation. Finds included a fragment of a slate Nine Men’s Morris board game and bone gaming counter, medieval metal dress fastenings, a wide range of pottery dating from the 11th century including vessel fragments and cooking pots, glass fragments and artefacts, animal bone and sea shells. To find out more, visit: www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/archaeology/cosmeston
