US EditionLarge Groups Came Together for Grand Feasts at the End of the Bronze Age in Britain
Research reveals distinct animal choices at large Bronze Age feasts, with millions of bones found, highlighting regional economies and social networks vital during the era's transition.
- Cardiff University researchers conducted isotope analysis on animal bones recovered from six extensive prehistoric refuse deposits located in Wiltshire and the Thames Valley, dating back to the late Bronze Age.
- The study aimed to identify which animals were consumed and their origins amid a period marked by declining bronze value and a shift to farming.
- Analysis indicates that each midden exhibited a unique assemblage of animal remains, with East Chisenbury primarily featuring locally sourced sheep, while sites like Potterne were characterized by pork consumption and animals such as pigs and cattle brought in from distant regions.
- Dr. Carmen Esposito explained that each midden played a crucial role within the environment by supporting local and regional economies, reflecting cultural identities, and maintaining connections among different communities during this unstable period.
- The research suggests large, location-specific communal feasts played a vital role in social mobilization and intercommunity relationships during Bronze Age Britain’s turbulent transition.
22 Articles
22 Articles
Watauga Democrat
What food festivals looked like in the Bronze Age
An analysis of bones revealed the types of animals people feasted on during the Bronze Age.
Climate change, economic decline, disrupted trade? This did not seem to prevent people at the end of the Bronze Age from holding large-scale events. They killed pigs, cattle, sheep – and their garbage is now a British cultural landscape.
New Study Highlights Britain's Age of Feasting - Archaeology Magazine
Feasting debris of pottery and bone recovered from East Chisenbury midden, Wiltshire, England CARDIFF, WALES—According to a statement released by Cardiff University, a recent study has shed new light on an exceptional era in British history that was characterized by large communal feasts. The research team used isotope analysis on material found within six huge middens dating to the end of the Bronze Age in Wiltshire and the Thames Valley to mor…
It seems that at the end of the Bronze Age, also a period of climatic and economic crisis, the same type of impulse was present.
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