VOLUNTEERS at Caerau Hillfort are being thanked for their hard work with a free trip to see a British Museum exhibition on the Celts.
Ely and Caerau volunteers have been digging at the site since 2011
Over the past four years, the CAER Heritage Project has worked with the communities of Caerau and Ely to discover the secrets of the largest and oldest monument in Cardiff, Caerau Hillfort.
Neolithic artefacts were found beneath an Iron Age hillfort and have cast new light on Cardiff’s 6,000 year-old origins.
The trip to see Celts: Arts and Identity take place on December 10 and is primarily aimed at the volunteers who have taken part in the project since it began in 2011.
Dave Wyatt, CAER Heritage Project co-director said: “This promises to be an amazing exhibition. Over the past four years our local volunteers have become extremely knowledgeable about their archaeology and history and this exhibition seemed like a perfect fit.”
The trip was initially going to be funded by prize money the project won in a national public engagement competition in 2014.
But thanks to the generosity of the British Museum and the Welsh Government Fusion: Tackling Poverty through Culture programme the trip has been paid for.
The hillfort was the subject of a Channel 4 Time Team programme which aired in early 2013.
Caerau’s Iron Age hillfort
From the outset the project has aimed to put local people at the heart of cutting-edge archaeological research and challenge unfounded stereotypes ascribed to this part of Cardiff.
The volunteers will have a special guide around the London exhibition.
“In the way that things always seem to do with this project, things fell in to place nicely. Julia Farley, who is the curator of the exhibition, has offered to give us a guided tour on the day,” said Dr Wyatt.
About 10 members of the partner project in Merthyr Tydfil, the 3Gs development trust, will also be on the trip.
The British Museum exhibition runs until January 31.
