DoomsdaysCWLarge Groups Came Together for Grand Feasts at the End of the #BronzeAge in Britain
After analyzing bone fragments found in millennia-old trash piles, researchers say that people may have brought livestock from far and wide to consume in the south
by Sonja Anderson
September 12, 2025
"Nearly 3,000 years ago, groups gathering for feasts in southern Britain gnawed the meat off enough bones to generate massive trash heaps. These mounds, which became part of the British landscape, are known as middens. Now, a new analysis of material from six middens is providing insight into the scope of ancient feasting.
"The middens date back to the late Bronze Age, which was a time of '#SocietalShifts across Europe,' according to a study published this month in the journal iScience. During this period, huge crowds came together for 'feasts on a scale unparalleled in British prehistory.'
" 'I’m pretty sure these gatherings would have had a really important role to play in creating some degree of community cohesion at a time of trouble,' co-author Richard Madgwick, an archaeologist at Cardiff University, tells the Guardian’s Steven Morris."
#History #Histodon #Feasting #BuildingCommunity #CommunityFeasts
Della Wren