Windwick Bay at South Ronaldsay, close to the site of the massive cliff top feast held more than 1,700 years ago. PIC: www.geography.co.uk
Posted on 03/20/2018 12:35:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists have identified the site of a huge Iron Age feast on Orkney where more than 10,000 animals were cooked and eaten in a vast cliff top celebration. Tests have shown that horses, cattle, red deer and otters were on the menu at the gathering above Windwick Bay, South Ronaldsay, more than 1,700 years ago... A large number of jewellery fragments and tools have already been discovered at the site, where the remains of an Iron Age broch and metalworking site can be found, with recent radiocarbon tests carried out at a midden -- or rubbish tip -- nearby. Examination has identified the cooked bones of around 10,000 animals in the dump. Martin Carruthers, an Iron Age expert at UHI... said the event was likely to maintain and reinforce the structure of Iron Age society on the island at a time when Romans could be found further south on the mainland. A large rectangular building with a huge central hearth, similar to the 'Wag' structures found in Caithness, can also be found at The Cairns. This imposing building dates to around the time of the feasting event and perhaps represents the residence of a powerful household who organised the production and distribution of the valuable jewellery pieces... The broch at The Cairns is known to have fallen out of use around the middle of the Second Century AD. Later, two iron-working furnaces were set up at the site and more than 60 moulds used to cast fine bronze objects have been found at The Cairns over time. These were used to cast a variety of objects ranging from simple bronze rings, to distinctive decorated dress pins and penannular brooches -the open-ring, cloak brooches that are sometimes referred to as Celtic brooches.
(Excerpt) Read more at scotsman.com ...
Windwick Bay at South Ronaldsay, close to the site of the massive cliff top feast held more than 1,700 years ago. PIC: www.geography.co.uk
The more detailed map shows Birnie nearby, a site that in recent years produced not only the Roman coins mentioned by the "out there" author, but even more recently produced a high-status items.The Sueno Stone 10miles to west of Quarrelwood Hill has scenes showing a major battle -- Pictish Stone at Forres just 10 miles toward Caledonian territory to the west which appears to portray a huge battle. The bottom shows three rows of mounted warriors leading archers and foot-soldiers. The bottom panel shows a bridge, or maybe a tent which may represent the Roman camp. Below this are seven decapitated bodies and their executioner. There are three figures who seem to be blowing instruments very much like the Roman trumpet called a tuba. There are cavalry and ranks of soldiers which one central figure, which some suggest is "kilted" but could also represent the Pteruges: decorative feathers that hung from the [waist] of Greek and Roman armour. The stone has been give a dated to 500-1000AD using carbon dating of nearby material, but if it had been moved, it could easily date well before this. Even if it post dates the Roman period, it may have been erected much later to commemorate the battle. And it is the largest so called "Pictish" stone, so this battle must have been very important in the area.
Really knew how to party back then.
Northern BBQ
Hard to believe that they ate 10,000 animals at one feast.
Seems more likely that the location was used many times to feast.
Don’t know that there were enough people living there to eat that much at one time.
But that is just me speculating.
beat me to it! This assertion is a bit far-fetched.
Otters?
I think you are correct.
I thought was an awful lot of food. Were any villages in that time and place anywhere near that big?
The other white meat.
“Hard to believe that they ate 10,000 animals at one feast.”
It’s possible. It might well have been a feast of great significance: a treaty ending a war, formerly warring peoples bound together by a marriage alliance, etc.
Just a Ceilidh that got out of hand.
I read somewhere that a horse carcass could feed 6 men for a week. 10,000 Animals would have fed an enormous crowd. Where did all the people come from and where did they all go?
But the craic was epic.
With beans, pickles, onion and Texas Toast
Feasting in the past was usually a much more time consuming affair than just our “Thanksgiving Day.”
In Roman times the Celtic people were known to the Romans for what archaeologists call “competitive feasting.” Wanna-be leaders had to outdo other competitors and it takes a lot of food and gifts if your competitor is skilled in acquisition.
It happened in North America too where giant earth ovens were found that were used to cook large quantities of food at once. In the northwest there were potlaches in historic times that were huge events, with food, gifts and captured slaves given away.
The practice in many cases is how some individuals in society gained prestige- by providing copious amounts of food and gifts to people they wanted to impress by their generosity. They did it abundantly to prove what good providers or useful allies they could be- who would follow a stingy clan leader?
In the ancient past the aspiring leader had to give things away with no strings attached and may even give everything away to win hearts and minds- but it paid off in the long run. The difference between then and now is that aspiring leaders had to give their own stuff away, not someone else’ as politicians do today, so the person most likely to become a leader would be an excellent hunter or trader, in other words, he would have real merit and not just a lying press.
Here’s a paper on competitive feasting:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318348427_The_Origins_of_Entrepreneurship_and_the_Market_Process_An_Archaeological_Assessment_of_Competitive_Feasting_Trade_and_Social_Cooperation
Very good info. I think a lot of people know noting about this. Virtually all of the indigenous peoples - when the Europeans arrived in the New World - were doing this.
But what we have forgotten is that even as late as the 16th century, this was done in Europe. The Spanish court was the first one to become settled and tied to a place, but before that, all courts moved around, staying not only at one of their own palaces or royal monasteries, but with unfortunate local counts or other petty nobility - who were expected to put on a massive feast for the entire countryside that would virtually bankrupt the hosts.
But that was actually part of the strategy.
I am guessing the island’s ecology hasn’t been the same since that feast.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
