I wanna take you to an Open Day!

I believe I can write a few thousand words on the open days at Plas Brynkir and it still won't be anywhere near a conclusive description of the rush. The 14th of August was THE Open Day- when all members of the public, interested in the project, would come and want a guided tour of the site and finds. The day started off early with Mark's instruction as to how we would proceed during the tours. The unfinished work from the day before was still waiting for us on the drawing table and as we were working the first eager visitors came at about 10.20- 40 minutes before the official start of the Open Day. The weather was still indecisive as to how to behave and we were all feeling the growing realization that this was the last day. If I recall correctly Rosie started the first tour, while Alex, Stephen, Kate and I were finishing the remaining work. After the first tour was begun the day took on its own pace. More and more people were coming and only by faith's sudden whim I was at the front door of the hostel as a special guest walked in and Mark wanted me to give a private tour of the site. At about the same time Alex was giving a 2-hour long tour of the site to Michael Tree( Gosh, I do hope I am misspelling this name!). At the end of the official part of this day a sufficient part of us were gathered at the bbq spot at the back of the hostel- enjoying the warm caress of the sun and comforting company of people who had seen your worst- well, my worst in all cases. We finished the day together with Mark, Adam and Linda at a restaurant in the house where the last member of the Brynkir family had died. It was a fun evening indeed. But enough with the sloppy, tedious storied of our days. I want to get serious now! And what is being serious anyway... Spending what was almost a month with this group of people wasn't amazing, it wasn't surreal, it probably won't be a once in a life time experience. It was what happens when a weirdo, such as myself, finds a place to fit in. Arguing, sharing, getting to know others in a way reserved for just a few is a privilege that demands appreciation. We didn't only fell in love with the hostel and the site; we fell in love with being there, touching the stones and unraveling a forgotten story. And I believe whoever goes back there next year will feel the same, time and time again. White hats, yellow hats, and no hats at all we laid out the pathway for the coming years of the project and hopefully Mark won't forget the devotion we showed to Brynkir's story any time soon. Mainly because no one likes being forgotten. And Mark... Oh, that wonderful person! As I look back on that month with him as a project director I see that most of all he taught us how to be ourselves more than anything else. Goodbye, Brynkir, my first archaeological love!

It ain't over til' it's over

Monday the 13th of August was a very gloomy day! What was probably the best thing about the whole day was the spa treatment Kate and I indulged ourselves in the night before. All the team had to finish whatever they were working on and the stressful mood of work-loving students was filling the air with that iron taste of impending failure. And in that atmosphere of rushing, while Stephen and his team were doing final measurements; Kate was working on the final ground-plan of the Lower House with Alex and other people were doing important things, I am sure, I started doing a mega-schematic drawing of a 11-meter long, 6-meter high external elevation. Not fascinating at all but a very time-consuming endeavor indeed. This was our very last working day at BK12 and for the time here we did establish a fairly easy and enjoyable working environment. With every minute closer to the end of our working hours I could feel the insistent waterworks getting ready to poor out my eyes. How can a cry-baby change? It can't. So 22-year-old or not I knew I will be too emotional over the end of the dig. I almost forgot to tell you about the site-walk the whole team took before lunch that day- we all went together to the Lower House and talked about what we found about each and every room during our surveying. And as we were walking around, making jokes and actual, important remarks about the chronology of the building, I could see how we had become a family, albeit a very dysfunctional one indeed. Needless to say I didn't cope with finishing that big-ass drawing that I had started and I do believe the ground-plan needed more work- but that was Kate, Stephen and Alex working on it so I trusted they would cope. So there you have it, the second-to-last day of Plas Brynkir:Building Investigation and Recording was over. And I'm still nowhere as cheesy as I am going to be when talking about the last one.

Get out of the Training room if you can't stand the heat

Only 2 days before our coveted day off the Three Diggatiers were working indoors. Wait...we were bound to stay in there until all the paper work for the structures we surveyed was finished. That is exactly why Friday as well as Saturday were my team's days inside- in the training room. I tell you this, dear interested in the Brynkir project people, respectfully all the people involved in it who are reading this as a reminder what happened - with only 5 days left for us to spend here the end seems to be coming closer and it stressfully enough feels like the end of an era. Luckily I get to share all my worries with fellow white hats- Kate and Stephen. We have come to the conclusion that this experience was so "when I come up with a word for it I will tell you" that we all feel like there is now nothing beyond the reach of the Brynkir estate. Every breath here is both precious and unwanted. If Fraiday went by quickly and reasonably easy, Saturday was an Open day at Plas Brynkir and my intial group was to be evaluated on the tour we were giving around the site. Long story short when the Open day was over and the crowds of cute elderly people interested in history was gone we continued with the work. I can't imagine the evenings at Brynkir without the company of Kate and Stewie(Stephen, people-keep up with the story)- sometimes I like to think of us three as The Diggatiers, because we shared so much during this experience. And the weirdest part of it all is the fact that sharing the stories of BK12, regardless of how passionately I look to share them here, are hard to understand if you weren't there to see it all. Only 3 days to go. Only 3 more stories to share. Hope you are ready for the waterfalls!

Draw me pretty!

The 9th of August! Room number 4 at the Lower House for my team- Kathy & Co as Mark sometimes refers to us. To be completely honest, by this point of the week I feel so tired and ready to give up on my fruitless efforts to be helpful that the morning seemed as crappy to me as no day before that. We had to survey the Drawing Room at the Lower House- a beautiful structure with a bay window on its N/E elevation. And the Drawing Room did indeed grow on me. Alex was already so excited about going along with our work that his enthusiasm sweeped me in an imaginary stream of obliviousness to fatigue. After we measured the walls and I did my on-site sketches for the schematic drawings of the internal elevations, we headed back to the Training room at the hostel were we had more work to finish from previous days. At this point of the day I am going to stop my narrative and let you in on some secrets about the life at a four week dig. You win some new friends, you may somehow lose a closer look in your older friends' lives or you may utterly and totally cut the ties with some. However, no matter what happens the agenda should always be clear that here everything comes second to work. And if you live with people you thought of as close friends you start to discover more than ever exactly how much we all are imperfect. One thing a first-year absolutely needs to learn is that archaeology, especially field work, is never just digging. It is the necessity to mobilize yourself and to be able to work with whatever and whoever you have to. It seems almost bizarre to me that I am wasting time and space with all these pseudo-profound insights. Maybe archaeologists should just stick to their own filed of expertize and leave the complexity of reality to itself. Then again, why would I be writing this blog? It all comes down to the fact that neither one of us gives up easily.

Tell me where North is!

The most frustrating part of surveying a standing structure, such as the Lower House at Brynkir, is that instead of learning more by looking at it, I sometimes feel like I know less and less with every day. It feels like I'm playing pictionary with an alien and we have no common ground. Luckily I have Alex, my Number 2,(patronizing Kathy strikes) to always remind me that we are here not to be frustrated but to try and build up a logical picture of the chronology of the house in our minds. I figure if there was ever a conscious moment at which I started looking at the project as not just a university task but as a personal interest, that was the 8th of August. My team and I were working in the library room and it was the measuring of elevations of the internal walls-time, when I slowly grew aware of my internal ambition to try and make sense of the stones that were standing around me. The only trouble was, it is hard to describe simply where North is, when doing a schematic drawing- if you are using the archaeological way that is. Seems like archaeology itself has come such a long way it is impossible for the discipline to be self-explanatory. It was a godsend when Mark took the director's decision to use the architectural way of describing inner and outer elevations. All we need to know now is just where North is! As we come closer to the end of the dig I can feel how the days start rolling faster and I don't really want them to anymore. I want to stay longer and listen to the stones so maybe they can tell me the secrets of this house. Does that make me crazy?

All the flowers of all the tomorrows...

The 7th of August is a day some of the readers here might have heard of. That was the day of my birth and the team at Plas Brynkir helped make the day special, exciting and full of surprises for me. During the day, however, my team and I had continue our work on the surveying of the Lower House at the Brynkir estate. Our mission for the day- the supposed staircase hall/morning room had to be recorded by the known procedure. Only trouble was there are barely any still-standing elevations in that room. However, as the dream team we are, Alex, Warren and I succeeded. It didn't quite help the occasion that we had no solid ground to step on but were instead treading on huge piles of demolition rubble, but we are not complaining. It was quite interesting for us to continue diving in deeper into the sealed secrets of the Brynkir houses. The day ended around 6pm but on that day I had promised myself- no after-hours work. The evening promised to be even more endearing than the day. As I was getting ready to go out to The Goat- a cute pub nearby the hostel- I looked through the cards I was given over and over again. A crazy party cat was stalking me from one side, demanding from me to have a good time- with the names of all my fellow students on it. Linda, our lovely host during our stay at the hostel, surprised me with a card too. And then it was Mark and Adam that utterly flattered me with making this a noteworthy occasion: "Such fun!"- in the words on Mark himself. Let me not forget David, our guest specialist at the dig, who is going to create 3D images of the Brynkir houses- and his Cylon card. Proved you can never go wrong when you go sci-fi. Although the evening of nice food, drink and company at the pub was pleasurable, the highlight of the whole day was our little star-gazing adventure. Stephen and Kate came up with the idea to go up one of the hills nearby and watch the meteorite shower. I, of course, instead of putting decent shoes was still in my indoors slippers...Not at all surprising really. yo

And let me tell you something truthful and honest: There is no better end to a birthday than seeing a shooting star and making sure you have enough strength to fight for what you want.

Welcome to the bog!

On the 6th of August my new team of fellow diggatiers went not only down to the Lower House, we were sent to survey an outer-building, that had a 20 cm bog instead of a floor. One would imagine how can be an obstacle in the way a survey-hungry archaeologist. We made it somehow, with a lot of mud and even more swearing on my account. It is not easy to have a white hardhat at BK12(the dig site code). Wining about the necessities of life aside it was a pretty good day, except for the bog of course. For all of those unenlightened in the procedure of surveying a building I will now explain it, for those of you that are-just bear with me. First thing we do when we go to the allocated to our team room, structure or building is to asses the risks lurking from behind the wonky old constructions. We do some clearing if necessary, highly needed or even possible. Afterwards every wall possible has been brought into a presentable sight we do a running measurement of the walls- clockwise for interior, anti-clockwise for exteriors. That is where Alex is the master-creating a ground plan of the structures we survey. The camera and tripod are always down on site so photos are in order- more work with the spirit level and we have an even fuller record of the site. What follows that is my job and that is to first sketch the walls- the way rocks were stuck together into a structure, whether or not they are worked, the complexion and presence of mortar and so on. When our work on site is done we go back to the Training room and then I turn my sketches of every elevation into a scaled schematic drawing. The whole process is not all that glamorous and fabulous, however I find it fulfilling and rewarding to stand in the Brynkir house and take care it won't be forgotten. We are all good.

A story of how things in life come in their right places

Saturday is a hard day for serious work. However, we all gathered all of our strength left before the day off and finalized, as much as possible the work at the Upper House at Plas Brynkir. I, myself, was finishing the section drawings and grid plans of my own trench and helped others with whatever I was useful with. All in all it wasn't that big of a day when it comes to events. Well, maybe except for the fact that our groups of 3 were changed and I was now in a group with Alex and Warren and most of all: I now had the white hat! Promotion time! Now... I have a few very important things to say so make sure you read with both eyes! I am going to skip telling you about our day off activities and will take a slight curve on my established behavior-pattern in this blog. Today, as I am writing this, is the 7th of August, namely - my birthday! I am not writing this to make a big deal out of it, my intentions are far from that. The reason I am telling you this is because I do seek to share my happiness. Since I was very young I knew I wanted to be an archaeologist. I know everybody says that but it is very true. And all the time after I had made that decision my life was filled with people trying to tell me I shouldn't become one. I even went to a uni in Bulgaria, studying something quite different. But I hoped nothing could keep me away from archaeology. And here I am today, having the best present I could ever imagine- and I gave it to myself. I owe so much to Mark Baker for being here, for I have learned more than I have ever hoped for and he will excuse my cheesiness because today is my birthday. Truth is today is not about celebrating, it's about having another day as an archaeology student and being continuously happy that I had the guts to go away from everything I knew to find everything I wanted!

Is geology a real science?

One thing I most certainly am not going to do on this blog is sugarcoat things. Don't blame me, blame my idealist parents and their not-so-therapeutic view on reality. Thing is, when on the 2nd of August the two geologist from the National Museum of Wales came, no one was anywhere even closely prepared for a whole day of rock-hunting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. However, deciding whether a boulder is formed by glacial movements or with tools is not my idea of fun. My personal opinion aside, it was very helpful to have such good specialists on site. Especially with a project like the one we are working on, it is vital to understand how the rocks, forming the still-standing walls of the Brynkir houses came to form a part of the structures. I would love to have a long, interesting story of the way in which my eyes were now opened for the countless possibilities geology provides. In the morning we had an introductory lecture on what geology is and we had the chance to look at different stone samples through a microscope. We went up to the Tower, went in the walled gardens on the Brynkir estate and discussed the Upper and Lower Houses as much as a stone by stone approach was possible. So who am I to say if geology is a science or not. You might say it would be clever to stay on good terms with geologists, because of it's importance to archaeology and so on. I have no objections to that. But excuse me if I prefer digging up trenches...

Stephen, Pete and Mark at the Union Inn on the 31th of July, our night out to celebrate Rosie's birhtday!

Jenna and Mark recording what could as well be the most interesting trench on the site

Lily with her group on the second open day in the Training room, looking at the 1899 sales catalog

The birthday-girl with her cake( on the 31st of July)

Pete:Sat in his corner doing whatevr needs to be done!

I am saying bye to Bob...

...while Kate and Lily are tending to his last needs

Kate, supervising me on the cleaning of the staircase tower

The one with the official visits

Get up! Get up! Get up! I keep shouting in my head while all the others are still sleeping in their beds. I always wake up early in Cwm Pennant. Partially because I enjoy drinking my coffee in piece but mainly because I have to write this very blog and the morning is my only time of the day I am completely unable to be winy or bitchy, or so I think. The 2nd of August was a day reserved for the official visit of Harry Huddard- a direct descendant of the Huddard family, who used to own the Brynkir estate in the 19th century. It's a big fuss in the training room- tidying up, tidying ourselves up and receiving our daily tasks from Mark. I had to plan the probable staircase structure Kate and I had been surveying earlier. Jenna kept digging up her trench and reaching new layers in the stratigraphy of the interior of the Upper House. Alex and Stephen, by now skilled in hand surveying and planning, had to begin transferring skills to other people from the group. Lily was made chief of photography- and had to go around with Mark and our guest, making sure this event won't be forgotten. After the first article on the Plas Brinkir prject in a Welsh Newspaper a few people came to the hostel, seeking to share memories of forebears who lived and worked in the estate. And while everything is happening so fast, people are coming and going, I was sat in the Training room and kept on planning and recording everything I have done so far. Not so glamorous, is it. But you are wrong! The day became even more glamorous when in the early afternoon, just after Harry Huddard left, Elizabeth Williams-Ellis and Michael Tree came. As far as I am concerned these names didn't mean a thing to me when I first came here. And there I was, being on my best behavior. The whole group had a talk by Michael Tree before dinner, which turned out to be not so brief. However we did get a new perspective on how and why old country houses end up in the condition, in which the Upper and Lower Houses are. Sometimes I feel like time stops around here and the days are 72 hours long. But I don't really mind the long days because at the end of the day I count every minute as meaningful.

That awful day Pete left!

It was only 15 minutes after we started work on the 1st of August that the light drizzle became consistent rain. Although I tired to stay on the bright side and just accept the fact as a necessity of archaeological life, I couldn't help but read a secret meaning into this change of weather. Somehow I had the feeling that every person in the project was in a horrific mood. Partially I was in a bad mood as well but just because after a certain point here you change your moods just to get things going. Kate and I had to finish our survey of what is supposed to be a staircase tower in the Upper House. Lily was busy recording her trench. Jenna was still giving all her attention to her trench, Clive. Alex and Stephen were continuing the strenuous task of finishing the survey of the Upper House. We were expecting some rather exciting guests that day- people from the Royal Commission. And so they came, soon after lunch and in the light drizzle. We were separated into 2 groups and were to have both a practical lesson in how to use a fancy total station and a informative talk on archaeological and architectural photography. Our group was the first to get down to the Lower Building and start recording the features of the multistoreyed building. Learning new practical skills, I always find, is rather exciting, it brings a new meaning to the whole dig experience. But perhaps the most fascinating side of meeting all these people that come here, to this secluded point in North Wales, to teach us something is the chance to put faces to the information that archaeologists find so valuable. I imagine next time I'll be sat in the Arts and Social Studies Library I will read an article on archaeological photography and then I will know that it's people writing those. Sounds silly, doesn't it. Sadly our day came to an end and what an end it was... Pete was in a rush to catch his train and came down to the Lower House to have his goodbyes with us. As foolish as it may sound I felt like everything would change after Pete leaves. An era at BK12(our site code) was over. However we made a promise to our adoptive dad Pete that is, that we will stalk him in Cardiff forever and ever.

A day of our lives

Practically every day is a day of our existence. Sometimes, however, some things happen and times starts going quickly and you feel yourself almost helpless as to how to keep up. The morning of the 31st of Jul was one of my least favorite as what seemed inevitable happened and I got in an unpleasant argument with one of the project members. It is quite silly to try and explain who said what and why we started speaking awful things to each other in the first place, the result was a gloomy start to what was supposed to be a positive day. At about 10.30 our first visitor for the day came into the Training room. It was a woman, whose surname I sadly did not remember and I hope you all accept my sincerest apologies. This woman, named Margaret, held a lecture on the topic of a project in which she is a key-player: Dating Old Welsh Houses! The lecture was mostly about the merits of dendrochronology for the successful creation of a Master Chronology for old house mostly throughout North-west Wales. Right after the lecture a team of about 20 people came to the site, all participants in the Old Welsh Houses project. They were separated in 3 groups and that is where our smiley faces went in action and we started our tours around the site. It was Jenna's turn to show Team C's group the Lower House. Unluckily this was a rainy day and not one of the most pleasant experiences for our guests. After the tour was finished, tea and coffee were served and feedback sheets were filled we founds ourselves alone and happy in the Training room. Did I really forget to mention this was also Rosie's birthday. After the official part of the day was over we gathered together for the blowing of candles and a bit of cake and tea. After only 2 weeks the dynamic of the whole group is so different as to what it was in the beginning that all of us being in the Training room now has a new meaning. After cake Heather, our PhD supervisor gave us a talk on pottery, which got me thinking of how much more there is out there for me to be interested in. This was pretty much the end of our day. Well, not exactly because in the evening we went to a pub in Tremadog to celebrate Rosie's birthday. But that is a story we would rather keep to ourselves.

Pride and Supervision

30th of July! Not a big day, not a small one. Bob was already dead in my mind and I couldn't help but feel the disappointment after all my crazy strive to dig him disappeared. I guess that is just one of those things with which you just have to learn living with. This was the day when I was sent over to work with Kate, who just had received the white on-site supervisor hat. Needless to say I felt somehow ashamed, there I was - old enough to have graduated already and still being an unexperienced first year. Thoughts like this, however, I never let get in the way of my work. We were supposed to clean a square structure positioned opposite the doorway Lyly has been digging in the last week. Gardening! This day was somewhat of a turning point for me during this archaeological experience. All of a sudden I put myself in the position of a side-viewer and I saw this small, compact team of students, knowing what to do and doing what they have to in order for this project to move forward soundly. The highlight of the day didn't happen until we were all back in the training room, sorting out finds and filling in context sheets. Mark had asked me to write down on a board for the purpose the above-sea levels I had taken for 2 different trenches in the interior of the Upper House. 110.71! 110.72! One centimeter discrepancy and that meant that we were for certain surveying one and the same occupational layer of the site. In my mind what happened on the day after this one is much more interesting and meaningful but if you want to know about you'll just have to be a bit more patient.