Prehistoric Feasting Frenzy: Millions of Animal Bones Expose Bronze Age Gatherings

According to a recent archaeological study, the late Bronze Age in Britain was a time of large-scale feasting and community gatherings. Experts have been examining animal bones excavated from prehistoric rubbish dumps, known as middens, in the West Country and Surrey, and have found evidence that people were traveling hundreds of miles to congregate at these sites for massive meat-fueled celebrations.

The findings suggest that during a period of climatic and economic crisis, communities in southern Britain turned to feasting as a way to build relationships and maintain social cohesion. The largest midden examined, located near Devizes in Wiltshire, contained up to 15 million bone fragments, indicating the scale of these events.

While the Potterne site in Wiltshire was dominated by pork, with pigs brought in from as far as Wales, Cornwall, and northern England, the Runnymede site in Surrey appears to have been a hub for beef, with cattle arriving from Wales and the southwest. Further east, at East Chisenbury, the abundance of sheep remains suggests mutton was the meat of choice, with the animals sourced from the local area.

These findings suggest that while the Bronze Age communities were facing shared challenges, each region developed its own distinct feasting traditions and strategies for weathering the storm. The archaeologists believe these gatherings played a crucial role in maintaining social ties and community resilience during a turbulent period in Britain's history.