Stonehenge's builders were not slaves but instead willing workers who enjoyed the perks of feasting on dairy and meat, archaeologists have revealed.
Analysis of pottery shards found near the stone circle has revealed that the containers once contained yoghurt, cheese and milk.
Pig and cow bones by contrast were eaten further away – and consumed in large open air barbecues.
The discoveries were made at Durrington Walls, around 1.7 miles (2.7km) away from Stonehenge, and home to the villages where the stone circle’s builders are believed to have lived around 2500 BC.
Stonehenge's builders feasted on yoghurt, cheese and hog roasts: Pottery analysis reveals diet of stone circle's makers 5,000 years ago
Discoveries were made at Durrington Walls, 1.7 miles from Stonehenge
Thought to be home to where the stone circle’s builders lived
Experts believe Durrington and Stonehenge were built as a single complex and linked by a long avenue
By Colin Fernandez for the Daily Mail
13 October 2015
Daily Mail
Stonehenge's builders were not slaves but instead willing workers who enjoyed the perks of feasting on dairy and meat, archaeologists have revealed.
Analysis of pottery shards found near the stone circle has revealed that the containers once contained yoghurt, cheese and milk.
Pig and cow bones by contrast were eaten further away – and consumed in large open air barbecues.
These newly discovered stones were probably erected around 2500 BC — the same time Stonehenge, pictured, was in use
The discoveries were made at Durrington Walls, around 1.7 miles (2.7km) away from Stonehenge, and home to the villages where the stone circle’s builders are believed to have lived around 2500 BC.
Recent research has found Durrington itself had a wall of monumental standing stones up to 30ft (nine metres) high as well as wooden circles.
It is believed Durrington and Stonehenge were built as a single complex and linked by a long avenue.
Overlooked: Experts discovered an 'extraordinary' line of giant stones that dates back 4,500 years
The area around Stonehenge is littered with prehistoric sights but the 90 or more stones, lying 3ft underground, have only just been discovered (artist's impression of what they once looked like pictured)
Analysis of charred bones from mass hog roasts are signs that Stonehenge was built by willing labourers – not slaves, York University archaeologists suggest.
The pattern of food remains at the site could mean milk, yoghurt and cheeses were perceived as exclusive foods eaten only by a select few in public ceremonies, they claim.
People of Britain knew these vast structures would never be completed in their lifetimes and even Stonehenge was never finished. These were continuous projects, creating immense monuments to last for ever
Explaining the difference, archaeologists wrote that ‘Durrington was a place of habitation and feasting; Stonehenge was not.’
Only 11 fragments of clay ‘grooved ware’ pots have been found at Stonehenge compared to more than 11,000 such shards at Durrington.
By contrast, Stonehenge is a place were many burials and cremations took place – unlike Durrington where very few human remains have been found.
Further research by the University of Sheffield found that many pigs were killed before reaching their maximum weight.
The archaeologists believe ‘this is strong evidence of planned autumn and winter slaughtering and feasting-like consumption’.
The ancient Britons preferred to boil and roast meat in pots around indoor hearths as well as large barbecue style roasts outdoors.
The site showed that there were bones from all parts of the animal skeleton – which suggests livestock were herded to the site, rather than transported there as joints of meat.
Chemical analysis of the bones shows that the animals came from many different locations – including some possibly as far away as Cornwall, Wales and northern Britain.
The archaeologists write: ‘This is significant as it would require orchestration of a large number of volunteers likely drawn from far and wide. The observed patterns of feasting do not fit with a slave-based society where labour was forced and coerced, as some have suggested.'
Very few sheep bones were found at the site, suggesting lamb and mutton were not a major part of the diet.
Nor were there many signs of vegetable growing or consumption, the authors write.
Dr Oliver Craig, Reader in Archaeological Science at the University of York and lead author on the paper published in the journal Antiquity said: ‘Evidence of food-sharing and activity-zoning at Durrington Walls shows a greater degree of culinary organisation than was expected for this period of British prehistory.
‘The inhabitants and many visitors to this site possessed a shared understanding of how foods should be prepared, consumed and disposed. This, together with evidence of feasting, suggests Durrington Walls was a well-organised working community.’
Evidence of pots containing dairy were found at the ‘Southern Circle’ of Durrington, a wooden timber circle. Chemical analysis of fats is able to distinguish from yoghurt, cheese and milk.
Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Professor at University College London and Director of the Feeding Stonehenge project who also led the excavations at Durrington Walls, said: ‘This new research has given us a fantastic insight into the organisation of large-scale feasting among the people who built Stonehenge.
'Animals were brought from all over Britain to be barbecued and cooked in open-air mass gatherings and also to be eaten in more privately organised meals within the many houses at Durrington Walls.
‘The special placing of milk pots at the larger ceremonial buildings reveals that certain products had a ritual significance beyond that of nutrition alone. The sharing of food had religious as well as social connotations for promoting unity among Britain’s scattered farming communities in prehistory.’
Dairy farming had been going on in Britain since 4000BC, so milk products were not a novelty food at the time.
But widespread lactose intolerance may have meant that only a ‘select few’ could consume milk – or require ‘highly skilled transformation’ into yogurts and cheeses.
The findings were published in the journal Antiquity.
Analysis of pottery shards found near the stone circle has revealed that the containers once contained yoghurt, cheese and milk.
Pig and cow bones by contrast were eaten further away – and consumed in large open air barbecues.
The discoveries were made at Durrington Walls, around 1.7 miles (2.7km) away from Stonehenge, and home to the villages where the stone circle’s builders are believed to have lived around 2500 BC.
Stonehenge's builders feasted on yoghurt, cheese and hog roasts: Pottery analysis reveals diet of stone circle's makers 5,000 years ago
Discoveries were made at Durrington Walls, 1.7 miles from Stonehenge
Thought to be home to where the stone circle’s builders lived
Experts believe Durrington and Stonehenge were built as a single complex and linked by a long avenue
By Colin Fernandez for the Daily Mail
13 October 2015
Daily Mail
Stonehenge's builders were not slaves but instead willing workers who enjoyed the perks of feasting on dairy and meat, archaeologists have revealed.
Analysis of pottery shards found near the stone circle has revealed that the containers once contained yoghurt, cheese and milk.
Pig and cow bones by contrast were eaten further away – and consumed in large open air barbecues.
These newly discovered stones were probably erected around 2500 BC — the same time Stonehenge, pictured, was in use
The discoveries were made at Durrington Walls, around 1.7 miles (2.7km) away from Stonehenge, and home to the villages where the stone circle’s builders are believed to have lived around 2500 BC.
Recent research has found Durrington itself had a wall of monumental standing stones up to 30ft (nine metres) high as well as wooden circles.
It is believed Durrington and Stonehenge were built as a single complex and linked by a long avenue.
Overlooked: Experts discovered an 'extraordinary' line of giant stones that dates back 4,500 years
The area around Stonehenge is littered with prehistoric sights but the 90 or more stones, lying 3ft underground, have only just been discovered (artist's impression of what they once looked like pictured)
Analysis of charred bones from mass hog roasts are signs that Stonehenge was built by willing labourers – not slaves, York University archaeologists suggest.
The pattern of food remains at the site could mean milk, yoghurt and cheeses were perceived as exclusive foods eaten only by a select few in public ceremonies, they claim.
People of Britain knew these vast structures would never be completed in their lifetimes and even Stonehenge was never finished. These were continuous projects, creating immense monuments to last for ever
Explaining the difference, archaeologists wrote that ‘Durrington was a place of habitation and feasting; Stonehenge was not.’
Only 11 fragments of clay ‘grooved ware’ pots have been found at Stonehenge compared to more than 11,000 such shards at Durrington.
By contrast, Stonehenge is a place were many burials and cremations took place – unlike Durrington where very few human remains have been found.
Further research by the University of Sheffield found that many pigs were killed before reaching their maximum weight.
The archaeologists believe ‘this is strong evidence of planned autumn and winter slaughtering and feasting-like consumption’.
The ancient Britons preferred to boil and roast meat in pots around indoor hearths as well as large barbecue style roasts outdoors.
The site showed that there were bones from all parts of the animal skeleton – which suggests livestock were herded to the site, rather than transported there as joints of meat.
Chemical analysis of the bones shows that the animals came from many different locations – including some possibly as far away as Cornwall, Wales and northern Britain.
The archaeologists write: ‘This is significant as it would require orchestration of a large number of volunteers likely drawn from far and wide. The observed patterns of feasting do not fit with a slave-based society where labour was forced and coerced, as some have suggested.'
Very few sheep bones were found at the site, suggesting lamb and mutton were not a major part of the diet.
Nor were there many signs of vegetable growing or consumption, the authors write.
Dr Oliver Craig, Reader in Archaeological Science at the University of York and lead author on the paper published in the journal Antiquity said: ‘Evidence of food-sharing and activity-zoning at Durrington Walls shows a greater degree of culinary organisation than was expected for this period of British prehistory.
‘The inhabitants and many visitors to this site possessed a shared understanding of how foods should be prepared, consumed and disposed. This, together with evidence of feasting, suggests Durrington Walls was a well-organised working community.’
Evidence of pots containing dairy were found at the ‘Southern Circle’ of Durrington, a wooden timber circle. Chemical analysis of fats is able to distinguish from yoghurt, cheese and milk.
Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Professor at University College London and Director of the Feeding Stonehenge project who also led the excavations at Durrington Walls, said: ‘This new research has given us a fantastic insight into the organisation of large-scale feasting among the people who built Stonehenge.
'Animals were brought from all over Britain to be barbecued and cooked in open-air mass gatherings and also to be eaten in more privately organised meals within the many houses at Durrington Walls.
‘The special placing of milk pots at the larger ceremonial buildings reveals that certain products had a ritual significance beyond that of nutrition alone. The sharing of food had religious as well as social connotations for promoting unity among Britain’s scattered farming communities in prehistory.’
Dairy farming had been going on in Britain since 4000BC, so milk products were not a novelty food at the time.
But widespread lactose intolerance may have meant that only a ‘select few’ could consume milk – or require ‘highly skilled transformation’ into yogurts and cheeses.
The findings were published in the journal Antiquity.
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