A team of archaeologists from the British universities of York and Sheffield has discovered interesting new facts about diet, culinary habits and social customs at the table of the inhabitants of Durrington Walls, a late Neolithic site believed to be the place of residence of the builders of the neighboring Stonehenge towards 2500 a. C ..
The chemical analysis of the residues left in the several hundred pottery fragments that are preserved denotes different uses of the dishes for different occasions. The pieces found in the living areas were used to cook various animal products, mainly pork, beef and dairy products, while the ceramics in the ceremonial spaces show that they were dedicated to processing or storing dairy products. This indicates that perhaps milk, yogurts and cheeses were considered exclusive foods consumed only by a select few , or perhaps that dairy products, still considered symbols of purity, were used in public ceremonies.
Surprisingly, there is hardly any evidence that vegetables were cooked anywhere at the site. Everything points to a massive consumption of meat, especially pork. Subsequent animal bone analyzes carried out at the University of Sheffield have revealed that many pigs were killed before reaching their maximum weight, revealing common autumn and spring kills of young for banquets and feasts . Supposedly, the usual ways of preparing food were to boil and cook them in ceramic pots next to fireplaces and fireplaces located indoors, as well as roast them on large outdoor barbecues, according to the shapes of the bones that are They have found.
There are bones from all areas of the skeleton, which indicates that the cattle were grazed alive to the place where they were killed and cooked, instead of being sacrificed first and then butchering them to bring the pieces of meat to the fire. Other analyzes reveal that the cattle came from different geographical locations, some quite far from Durrington Walls, located in the south-west of England. This supposes the organization and participation of a network of people involved by their own will , since the observed patterns of the type of festivities do not fit with a slave society where labor was forced.
Oliver Craig, archaeologist at the University of York and leader of the research, believes that “the tests of shared food and activities together at Durrington Walls show a degree of well-organized culinary development that is higher than could be expected for that period of prehistory. British. The inhabitants and visitors of the place had a common knowledge about the techniques of preparing food , and how to present and consume it.
If we add to that that they held feasting and banquets, we must deduce that the people of Durrington Walls were a well-organized community of workers. “For Mike Parker Pearson, professor at University College London and Director of the Feeding Stonehenge Project and the excavations in Durrington Walls, “This new research gives us a fantastic insight into the organization of banquets by the people who built Stonehenge .
Animals were brought in from all over Britain to cook them on outdoor barbecues at group parties, as well as at more private banquets. The location of pots where they drank milk in the ceremonial centers reveals that certain products had special ritual significance and not just food . The sharing of food had religious and social connotations in order to promote unity among the farming communities of Great Britain in prehistoric times.
