Iron Age Britons didn’t eat hares and chickens – they idolised them

BROWN hares and chickens were considered gods when they first arrived in Britain during the Iron Age, research suggests.

While future civilisations viewed the animals as food, Iron Age people buried them with care when they died, leaving them intact.

Archaeological evidence studied by experts at the universities of Exeter, Leicester and Oxford shows there was no butchery of the creatures. Researchers said the species were not imported for food and were linked with deities.

Chickens were associated with an Iron Age god akin to the Roman Mercury, and hares with an unknown female hare goddess.

The team are working to ascertain when brown hares, rabbits and chickens were introduced to Britain, and how they became incorporated into Easter traditions.

The team previously analysed the earliest rabbit bone found in Britain, which dates to the 1st or 2nd century AD. New radiocarbon dates for bones found on sites in Hampshire and Hertfordshire suggest brown hares and chickens were brought to Britain even earlier, arriving together in the Iron Age, between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC.

Researchers say the discovery of buried skeletons fits historical evidence that neither animal was eaten until the Roman period, hundreds of years later.

Prof Naomi Sykes, of the University of Exeter, who is leading the research, said: “Easter is an important British festival, yet none of its iconic elements are native to Britain. The idea that chickens and hares initially had religious associations is not surprising as cross-cultural studies have shown that exotic things and animals are often given supernatural status.

“Historical accounts have suggested chickens and hares were too special to be eaten and were instead associated with deities: chickens with an Iron Age god akin to Roman Mercury, and hares with an unknown female hare goddess.”

Prof Sykes added that archaeological evidence shows that as the animals’ populations grew, they were increasingly eaten, and hares were even farmed as livestock. The animals’ remains were disposed of as food waste, rather than buried as individuals.

In the Roman period, both species were farmed and eaten, and rabbits were also introduced, researchers say.

But in AD410, the Romans withdrew from Britain, causing economic collapse. Rabbits became locally extinct, and populations of chickens and brown hares crashed, so they regained their special revered status.

‘Easter is an important British festival, yet none of its iconic elements are native to Britain’