Honey-basted venison and meat porridge on Bronze Age menus

BRONZE AGE families dined on meat stews with dumplings and honey-basted venison, a Cambridge University study has found.

The Must Farm settlement near Peterborough – known as the Pompeii of the British Isles – produced the largest collection of everyday Bronze Age artefacts discovered in the UK.

Among the items that survived after a catastrophic fire destroyed the settlement nine months after it was first occupied 3,000 years ago were the remains of dishes including porridge topped with meat juices.

Studies by Cambridge University’s Archaeological Unit (CAU) of the best preserved Bronze Age dwellings in Britain has given an unprecedented insight into the domestic life of our ancestors.

Researchers found that the fenland site’s destruction and collapse meant objects that became buried in the muddy water below mirrored their original positions inside the houses, enabling archaeologists to see how spaces were used.

The combination of charring and waterlogging caused thousands of domestic items to survive, including 200 wooden artefacts, over 150 fibre and textile items, 128 pottery vessels and more than 90 pieces of metalwork.

This time capsule also contained rare personal items including decorated textiles – some of the finest produced in Europe at that time – along with pots and jars containing food remains.

The foodstuffs were analysed using a combination of lipid analysis and microscopy, including scanning electron microscopy, to help identify the components.

This showed the villagers ate meat stews, dumplings and bread, and lamb and pork chops, along with honey-basted venison and a wheat-grain porridge mixed with fat from goats or red deer. They appeared to have favourite cuts of meat, often only bringing the forelegs of a boar back for roasting, as well as eating pike and bream caught in the waters around them.

Following fears about the location and future preservation of the site, the remains were removed for recording and analysis by CAU as part of a £1.1million excavation project funded by Historic England and landowner Forterra.

Dr Chris Wakefield, the CAU project archaeologist, said: “The site is providing us with hints of recipes for Bronze Age breakfasts and roast dinners.

“Chemical analyses of the bowls and jars showed traces of honey along with ruminant meats such as deer, suggesting these ingredients were combined to create a form of prehistoric honey-glazed venison.”

Two new books detail the study’s findings, along with an exhibition of artefacts opening next month at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery.