What was extant in Britain before those Damned Romans then?

[tcvarlh]

I got asked by a local kid, which in itself around here is worth mentioning, what wildlife Britain had before the Romans deposited their barbarism on the natives of these islands? OK, he didn't actually ask the question quite like that but the gist was clear. He had been told by Teach, Rabbits, Black Rat, Red Deer and a list of about 9 other critters and plants were dumped into Britain by these intrepid Latins. I'm not greatly enamored by the mention of the Tiber river denizens and got to wondering what proofs there are for all these 'the Romans brought them...' comments. The lad himself wondered what the people who lived here (according to Teach, primitive barbarians !) ate, what they grew and what they hunted. Teach only mentioned Woad to his class and Jake (the Lad) looked it up. Fine for face painting and dyeing cloth, not so tasty. So help young Jake out please folks, I'm biased and can't be trusted to handle Romans logically.

χαίρω!

h

[thunder]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

got to wondering what proofs there are for all these 'the Romans brought them...' comments. h

Well the "proofs" are the lack of archaeological remains before the time of the Romans.

By no means certain that the Romans introduced the Rabbit - that was probably the Normans.

henrya

[STYRBJORN]

Wolf. Brown bear. Wild boar. Lynx. Beaver. Take it back far enough, woolly mammoth. Picts. Celts. Jutes. Beaker People.

[tcvarlh]

Originally Posted by thunder

Well the "proofs" are the lack of archaeological remains before the time of the Romans.

By no means certain that the Romans introduced the Rabbit - that was probably the Normans.

henrya

OK I accept that BUT, Jake is not going to, he'll say something like 'just because you can't find 'em dun't mean they wern't there' And I have to say lack of evidence is no evidence. You see my point, Jake will want to know what was eaten, grown and hunted. Kids are 101% skeptics and Jake was born a disbeliever. Believe me, at 3 he told me Santa didn't exist, I was shocked. I believed.
We know these islands were visited by pre-roman folks and there was trade between here and the continent. Celts of varying persuasions arrived here. They must have brought in seeds and maybe livestock. Such animals that were easily kept on a boat. There was a thriving culture at Dogger previously to the meltdown, etc, I need ideas to help explain it all to Jake or I am going to look daft, and I shall pass the blame onto WAB.
As for Rabbits, were they not indigenous to Spain? So why should the Normans bring them into the country, Spanish folk had been trading for Cornish tin for centuries before both Rome and the Normans. certain Basque words are still to be found in Old Cornish.
I am not arguing about this I really want to help Jake, it's his first sign of interest in any sort of education since he was 10. Help me out.
h

[tcvarlh]

Originally Posted by STYRBJORN

Wolf. Brown bear. Wild boar. Lynx. Beaver. Take it back far enough, woolly mammoth. Picts. Celts. Jutes. Beaker People.

Great! Keep the ideas coming and maybe I'll turn him into a WABber! I want to present him with lots of ideas from 'real' people not Teach whom he trusteth not at all. So I can sit him in front of his pc and show him all your ideas and thoughts. Thanks!
h

[thunder]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

As for Rabbits, were they not indigenous to Spain? So why should the Normans bring them into the country,h

For food!

henrya

[thunder]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

I really want to help Jake, it's his first sign of interest in any sort of education since he was 10. Help me out.
h

Fair enough - I will have a look through my books but my interests are mainly in the medieval and I don't think I have much on pre-Roman culture. Will see what I can do.

henrya

[solus]

Have a rummage around (with Jake if you like) on t'interweb and look at some reports from archaeological digs at a selection of Iron Age and Bronze Age sites. Middens are great for discovering food remains (animal and fish bones, grains, hazelnut shells, oyster shells etc.) which give an idea of what some of the diet of the inhbaitants consisted of.

From the Skara Brae website (Orkney) for example:
Skara Brae - Daily life in Skara Brae
"Bones found in the midden, surrounding the houses, shows that cattle and sheep formed the main part of the Skara Brae diet, with barley and wheat grown in the surrounding fields.

Complementing the farming produce, fish and shellfish were harvested in great quantities — and perhaps kept fresh within custom-built tanks within the houses. Fish were shore caught — mostly cod and saithe — while the wide range of shellfish reflects those that formed a staple part of the Orcadian diet until the 20th century.

Huge quantities of limpet shells were found, but these may not have been a staple part of the Skara Brae diet. Through the centuries, limpets were generally regarded as an “emergency” food in Orkney, used only when there was nothing else available. Instead, they were harvested for bait, something that probably explains the quantities found in Skara Brae. The tanks within the houses could have been used to soak the limpets, softening them up before being used.

The island's red deer and boar were also hunted for their meat and skins. Seal meat was consumed and, on the occasions when they found a beached whale, its meat would have provided a welcome feast.

In addition, they, like the generations of islanders that followed them, probably collected the eggs of seabirds as well as harvesting the birds themselves."

Just for starters! Plenty of excavated settlements all over Britain, coastal and inland - some near world-famous places like Stonehenge; others in the brecks and fens of East Anglia - that'll keep young Jake occupied for the school holidays!!

[STYRBJORN]

Flints found at Lowestoft have been dated to 700.000BP. They are diagnostically characteristic of Homo erectus, generally accepted as our direct ancestor.
Add to my earlier list goats, aurochs - wild cattle - probably horses. Explain that Britain only became an island when the glaciers melted at the start of the present Inter-Glacial period. That's bit over simplified, but will help make it clear to him that animals could easily migrate. Point out that the first arrivals after the glaciers went must have been herbivores, feeding on the new plant growth. Carnivores would then follow, feeding on the herbivores. Mammoth probably stuck around through the glaciation. They were rhe first species to be driven extinct by Man, an honour they would doubtless have forgone of given the choice.

Ric

[nigel_b]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

'just because you can't find 'em dun't mean they wern't there'

By that logic you could argue we once had kangeroos. I would say your logic is flawed.