in that environment. Seaweeds and shellfi sh were collected,
and it is still true today that the tastiest wild vegetables can be
found only on the shorelines of northern Europe.
From this time there is also archaeological evidence
from the residues in ceramics that milk products were con-
sumed. Th is evidence is confi rmed by the high proportion of
calf bones excavated from Neolithic camps around Europe,
implying both the consumption of veal and the need for a
large supply of milk. Butter making would have been an im-
portant by-product of milk consumption. Surplus butter was
oft en placed in wooden barrels and submerged into peat bogs
to keep it cool until it was needed. Archaeologists have dis-
covered large qualities of this butter, termed bog butter; these
discoveries range from a few pounds to as much as a hun-
dredweight of butter at one site in Ireland.
In the later Iron Age (2,800 years ago) we have the com-
ments of various classical historians about the food of the
barbarians they encountered. It has been well documented in
such texts that the barbarians of Europe loved wine and beer,
and this was true for the peoples who preceded them as well.
Th e fermenting of liquids to produce alcohol was one of the
earliest culinary activities aft er humans started to settle in
one place and grow grains. Simple beer was consumed as a
regular drink, because, among its many virtues as a bever-
age, it contained vitamins that were oft en lacking in a cereal-
based diet.
Th e discovery of malt may have been the result of storing
grain in underground storage pits; the dampness at the base
of the pits would have caused the remaining grain to sprout in
the spring. Attempts to preserve these tasty sprouts possibly
led to the creation of malt, the base ingredient of our beers
today. Once dried, the grain sprouts turn into sweet-smell-
ing malt owing to the concentration of sugars in the dried
sprouted grain. Malted grain ground into fl our and added to
hot water makes a pleasant drink. A pot of this malt drink
left near a fi re for a day or two would have produced a simple
beer. Archaeological evidence of such malt processing was
excavated in a burned-down Iron Age house in Denmark at
a settlement called Osterbolle, in Jutland. Archaeologists dis-
covered two clay pots containing sprouted barley. One was set
away from the fi re, presumably to ferment, and the other was
next to the fi re to possibly begin the drying process.
A variety of herbal teas was also consumed, not just for
medical purposes but also as a refreshing drink. Herbs and
fl owers were put into a ceramic pot with water, and small red-
hot stones the size of hen’s eggs were dropped into it. Once
the water was boiling, the herbs would release their fl avors.
Th e stone was then taken out and the drink set aside to cool
before consuming.
Th e most important type of cooking equipment from the
earliest times was hot stones used to heat water. Possibly one
of the fi rst skills a prehistoric child would learn was the dif-
ference between igneous stones, formed as molten rock cools
and hardens, and sedimentary stones, formed by deposits of
sediment in a seabed. Having been subjected to extreme heat,
igneous rock can withstand the heat of a fi re. Sedimentary
rock, on the other hand, absorbs liquid readily; if such stones
are put into a fi re to heat, the water inside can expand and
cause the stone to explode, possibly injuring those around
the fi re. Volcanic stones, however, can be heated to red hot
and dropped into water pits many times before they begin to
crack and become unusable.
Huge crescent-shaped mounds of these fi re-cracked
stones are found around Europe. In Ireland these sites are
called Fulachta Fliadh, meaning “cooking places” in Gaelic.
In the middle of these mounds of stones is usually found a
rectangular wood-lined pit dug into the water table. In Th e
History of Ireland (19 0 8) G e off rey Keating describes the
method. Early hunters would wrap meat in moorland grasses
and drop it into water pits with hot stones to cook. Cooking
experiments have shown that when red-hot stones are added
to water, it begins to boil within minutes. Odd stones then
would be added over the course of hours to keep the water
simmering until the meat was cooked. Th e grass was wrapped
around the meat to prevent ash and grit from the stones from
getting into the cooking meat.“Empress” pepper pot, from the Hoxne hoard in Suff olk, Roman
Britain; it was buried in the fi ft h century c.e., when Britain was
passing out of the control of Rome. (© Th e Trustees of the British
Museum)
478 food and diet: Europe