Stonehenge builders’ diet habits revealed in new exhibition

Findings suggest beef and pork on the menu

The builders of Stonehenge feasted on pigs and cattle transported from north east Scotland, a new exhibition at the Neolithic site shows.

Thousands of discarded animal bones and teeth excavated at the nearby settlement of Durrington Walls suggest it was not a typical village but a site of major feasting and ceremony, at which large amounts of beef and pork were eaten.

Isotope analysis of the pig and cattle teeth reveal people were bringing some of the animals from as far as 500 miles away, meaning the beasts would have been sourced from or, at least, driven through, Tayside and Fife.

The research suggests Stonehenge was known across Britain and people journeyed to help build the monument and take part in feasts.

Milk also played an important symbolic role in feasting ceremonies held by the prehistoric community who built the monument 4,500 years ago, but as they were lactose intolerant they had to turn milk into cheese and yogurt to eat it, experts said.

Highlights from the Feast! Food at Stonehenge exhibition include the skull of an aurochs, an extinct species of wild cattle with huge horns and a rare complete Bronze cauldron dating from 700BC, which would have formed a centrepiece of feasts.

The exhibition at Stonehenge, which allows visitors to find out about the diet and lifestyle of people who built and used it, also features a nearly complete and beautifully decorated grooved ware pot that was used in the preparation of pork and beef dishes.

The displays reveal research and stories from the “feeding Stonehenge” project, which has been exploring the lives of the people who lived at Durrington Walls, in the late Neolithic period, English Heritage said.

Pottery found at Durrington Walls also shows the people living there used larger grooved ware pots to cook meat stews and smaller vessels for processing dairy products.

The dairy pots were found concentrated at a timber ceremonial circle at Durrington Walls, suggesting milk played an important and symbolic role, although it was made into lowlactose products such as yogurt or cheese.

Susan Greany, English Heritage historian said: “Raising the ancient stones was an incredible feat but so too was feeding the army of builders – our exhibition reveals just how this was done.”

Raising the ancient stones was an incredible feat but so too was feeding the army of builders. HISTORIAN SUSAN GREANY

Picture: PA. Some of the food eaten by builders at the Wiltshire site had been transported from Tayside and Fife.