- Chapter Seven -
The wealth of any family or group was dependent on the size and well-being of
the stock. Cattle were particularly important for the production of milk, meat,
leather and bone, all of which could be utilized for a variety of domestic and semi-
industrial uses.^85 Pigs were important to the humbler farmer, as they could be turned
out to forage on less tractable forest, scrub or moorlands, farrowed easily with
multiple offspring, and after the autumn cull meat, bone and leather could be used,
with the blood made up into puddings or sausages for winter use (Figure 7.8). Joints
of pork as well as complete skeletons were not uncommon as part of the offerings to
the dead (Figure 7.9). 86
Although a certain proportion of animal meat was raised through the breeding of
domesticated stock, hunting produced further supplies to supplement the diet with
its wider variety, and conserve the best breeders for as long a period as possible.
Hunting would, as in the medieval world, include horsemen, who would need the
speed to keep up with deer, or to sidestep the dangers of attack from a cornered wild
boar whose tusks could wreak such havoc on men, horses and dogs.^87 Other hunters
would track down their prey on foot, set traps, lime twigs, or set nets to catch
Figure 7.8 Members of Y Ddraig, a branch of The Vikings (Norse Film and Pageant Society),
and a pig with wild boar ancestry recreate a scene from the sub-Roman period at Bridgemere
Wild Life Park, near Nantwich, Cheshire (November 1991). (Copyright: John Eagle.)108