Ancient people brought animals from afar for celebrations developed at the Bronze Age in Great Britain
According to a new study in iscienceThe holidays were well worth the trip, even at the turbulent end of the British Bronze Age.
The analysis of the equipment of six middens, or mounds of massive waste, which are still present in the field of England today, the authors of the study found that people were traveling from all of Great Britain to late bronze to participate in large food festivals, bringing animals like pigs and cattle with them.
“Our results show that each midden had a distinct composition of animal remains,” said Carmen Esposito, study author and archaeologist at the University of Bologna, according to a press release. “With a little locally raised sheep and others with pigs or cattle from afar.”
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Festing of remains at the end of the Bronze Age
Landscape location of all Cross Midden cannings.
(Credit image: Credit Cardiff University)
Left by ancient people, the middens are debris mounds, including bones of thrown animals and broken pottery, many of which have been transformed into grassy hills over the years. In fact, in England, there are a handful of these hills in the southern regions of the Wiltshire and the Thames Valley, the largest – potter in the Wiltshire – contains about 15 million animal fragments, left by festivals of late bronze food.
Hoping to know more about these festivals, the authors of the new study analyzed the isotopes of the fragments of animals of animals found in six of the averages of England, all dating from the transition of the Bronze Age between around 900 BCE and 500 ECB, showing where animals were originally, the analysis underlines the size and the moon communities, “added Esposito in the press release.
Indeed, the authors of the study found that the holidays were probably among the most important to take place in British prehistory, the animals being brought through the English field, creating new networks of social and economic connections centered on the festivities.
“At a time of climate and economic instability, the inhabitants of southern Great Britain turned to party-there was perhaps an age of celebration between bronze and iron age,” said Richard Madgwick, another study author and archaeologist at the University of Cardiff, according to the press release. “These events [were] Powerful to establish and consolidate relationships inside and between communities. »»
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Food from near and far
Of course, it was the isotopes of animal bone fragments that have enabled study authors to size these food festivals. Accused from the environment as an animal eats and drinks, the isotopes appear in bones at different concentrations in different areas, allowing archaeologists to identify where an animal has been raised, based solely on its bones or bone fragments. By applying a multi-isotope analysis, the authors of the study were thus able to isolate these markers, tracing the remains in the Middens to the animals mentioned through England.
While the Midden in East Chisenbury contained remains of local sheep, the majority included waste from pigs or cows from a range of British regions. At the Midden Potterne, for example, most of the festive remains came from pigs, while the Runnymede Midden, more came from cattle. However, the animals consumed on the two sites have been brought in an assortment of localities, some as far as northern England.
“The extent of these accumulations of debris […] is amazing and indicates community consumption and social [mobilization] On a scale which is undoubtedly unequaled in British prehistory, “concluded Madgwick in the press release.” Overall, research indicates the dynamic networks that have been anchored on feast events during this period and the different transition, perhaps complementary, that each midden had during the transition from the Bronze Age. “”
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