Archaeology & History

Did the ancient Scots eat roasted rodents ?

By T.K. Randall
October 22, 2016

Image: Brown Rat
Credit: Dunpharlain / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Evidence of this unusual dining choice was discovered on the Orkney Islands - an archipelago north of the mainland UK where the remains of a Neolithic village known as Skara Brae can be found.

Classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the village's eight clustered houses have revealed a wealth of information about the people who once lived on these remote Scottish islands.

Among the items unearthed at the site by archaeologists over the years have been the bone fragments of animals once killed and eaten as part of the islanders' staple diet.

While most of these remain unremarkable, such as deer, rabbits and fish, researchers have also uncovered the skeletal fragments of a creature nobody expected to see on the menu - the vole.In a report published this week in Royal Society Open Science, scientists note that this is the first known evidence of rodent-eating found anywhere in Neolithic Europe. There is even evidence to suggest that the Scots had been breeding the animals to make them bigger for dining purposes.

"Rodent remains have been found in archaeological sites around the world, including the Middle East, eastern Asia, both South and North America and in southern Africa," said Dr Jerry Herman.

"These were also used for food and the practice is still common in some parts of the world, for example in south America."

"However we have the earliest evidence for rodents being used as food in the European continent."

Source: Science Magazine

Tags: Neolithic, Scotland