Ancient Orkney site abandoned after giant BBQ
STONE AGE people who left Orkney 4000 years ago, departed after a massive barbecue, a BBC documentary will reveal.
Archaeologists n ow believe the remote Orkney islands were a centre of the Neolithic world.
The islands may have forged Britain’s first common culture, at least 500 years before Stonehenge was built.
The extraordinary society dominated Britain for 1000 years before coming to a dramatic end around 2200BC.
Archeologist Neil Oliver, in the concluding part of BBC Two series Britain’s Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney, will reveal how the pioneer ing inhabitants enjoyed a barbecue of up to 400 cattle before they left.
The animals, from a single herd bred on Orkney, were roasted and eaten in a temple at the ancient Ness of Brodgar.
The building was then carefully dismantled in a ritual ceremony.
“The destruction of the Ness and this great mass of cattle bones found inside this temple may hold the final answer, not to why the community disappeared, but how,” said Oliver.
“As many as 400 head of cattle were slaughtered.
“The shin bones from these animals were then cooked and smashed open, and the marrow from within them was probably consumed.
“It’s like the wake or the funeral feast to mark the death of this building.”