Posted on 07/21/2012 7:25:39 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Iron Age Britons were importing olives from the Mediterranean a century before the Romans arrived with their exotic tastes in food, say archaeologists who have discovered a single olive stone from an excavation of an Iron Age well at at Silchester in Hampshire.
The stone came from a layer securely dated to the first century BC, making it the earliest ever found in Britain -- but since nobody ever went to the trouble of importing one olive, there must be more, rotted beyond recognition or still buried.
The stone, combined with earlier finds of seasoning herbs such as coriander, dill and celery, all previously believed to have arrived with the Romans, suggests a diet at Silchester that would be familiar in any high street pizza restaurant.
The excavators, led by Professor Mike Fulford of Reading University, also found another more poignant luxury import: the skeleton of a tiny dog, no bigger than a modern toy poodle, carefully buried, curled up as if in sleep. However it may not have met a peaceful end...
Fulford has been leading the annual summer excavations at Silchester, which bring together hundreds of student, volunteer and professional archaeologists, for half a lifetime, and the site continues to throw up surprises. It was an important Roman town, but deliberately abandoned in the 7th century, its wells blocked up and its buildings tumbled, and never reoccupied. Apart from a few Victorian farm buildings, it is still open farmland, surrounded by the jagged remains of massive Roman walls.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
That’s slice to see.
Why do you think Britain established the empire it did? They weren’t out to rule the world, they just wanted to find some food with flavor. They grew up on bland Brit food and stuff like blood pudding, so risking their lives to go somewhere like India or China would have been pretty appealing.
Additional:
Luxury food and pampered pooches in Iron Age Britain
Past Horizons Archaeology
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/07/2012/luxury-food-and-pampered-pooches-in-iron-age-britain
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