https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/06/the-1066-diet-normans-passed-on-their-love-of-pork-study-suggests
Quote from: Duncan Head on July 07, 2020, 09:10:36 AM
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/06/the-1066-diet-normans-passed-on-their-love-of-pork-study-suggests
The problem with this is "The research team used a range of bio-archaeological techniques to study human and animal bones recovered from sites across Oxford, along with fragments of ceramics used for cooking."
We've seen with the Romans how the proportion of various meat in the diet often varied with geography. From memory, Beef was more important on Hadrian's Wall, pork in cities.
I can well see that Oxford, not what you'd call the heart of a pastoral area, might see a shift from beef and lamb to Pork, if only because their lines of communication with the more pastoral areas were cut. It might actually be because more of the inhabitants were 'Normans' (after all they included the castle) so fetched their tastes with them
It might even be a sign of increased urbanisation within the area leading to an intensification of cereal agriculture and loss of woodland for pigs.
I'd like a more broadly based study :D
QuoteI'd like a more broadly based study
Likewise. A limited number of sites and a small sample. Really need to sample a few sites across the country to see if there is a pattern across the country before making sweeping statements.
Oxford itself might not be in a pastoral area, but it is not far from the Berkshire downs and what was certainly in medieval tines, a droving route from Wales to London. The advantage of cattle and sheep being that they can walk and feed themselves as they go. I presume pigs don't march?
Roy
Quote from: aligern on July 07, 2020, 12:34:49 PM
Oxford itself might not be in a pastoral area, but it is not far from the Berkshire downs and what was certainly in medieval tines, a droving route from Wales to London. The advantage of cattle and sheep being that they can walk and feed themselves as they go. I presume pigs don't march?
Roy
I've never tried to move them any distance but they're sods to handle.
you use boards to move them, here's a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJgo8LbZIs
as stated above, a much more extensive study would need to be performed before coming to conclusions...I suspect in the west and north it would be different
Boars Hill where I live, just outside Oxford, is clearly named for its plentiful pigs (not, as the wrong headed claim, for the bores who live here). "The earliest known record of Boars Hill (or Boreshill) is from the 12th century" says Wikipedia, thus conclusively proving the Normans-pigs link. Case closed.
Boars were different. Medieval boars were monsters which terrorised the country until a hero could be found to defeat them, thus winning "the prize" (whatever that was). A more homely version of wyrm-slaying. Bradford has a nice medieval boar slaying legend.
A local story has it that an Oxford scholar was once walking on Boars Hill reading his Thucydides, when he was charged by a boar. With admirable calmness he shoved the book in the boar's open jaws and it choked to death. Hence the name.
Nope, Normans and their pigs, definitely.
Plenty of boars in Wales pre Norman and his knights
Quote from: Jim Webster on July 07, 2020, 12:55:08 PM
Quote from: aligern on July 07, 2020, 12:34:49 PM
Oxford itself might not be in a pastoral area, but it is not far from the Berkshire downs and what was certainly in medieval tines, a droving route from Wales to London. The advantage of cattle and sheep being that they can walk and feed themselves as they go. I presume pigs don't march?
Roy
I've never tried to move them any distance but they're sods to handle.
you use boards to move them, here's a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJgo8LbZIs
Clearly you never put your pigs out on a lead when you go truffle hunting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle#/media/File:Cochon_truffier.JPG)...
Quote from: NickHarbud on July 08, 2020, 06:09:50 AM
Quote from: Jim Webster on July 07, 2020, 12:55:08 PM
Quote from: aligern on July 07, 2020, 12:34:49 PM
Oxford itself might not be in a pastoral area, but it is not far from the Berkshire downs and what was certainly in medieval tines, a droving route from Wales to London. The advantage of cattle and sheep being that they can walk and feed themselves as they go. I presume pigs don't march?
Roy
I've never tried to move them any distance but they're sods to handle.
you use boards to move them, here's a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJgo8LbZIs
Clearly you never put your pigs out on a lead when you go truffle hunting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle#/media/File:Cochon_truffier.JPG)...
That's the difference between one trained animal and the herd ;)
Quote from: RichT on July 07, 2020, 02:31:10 PM
A local story has it that an Oxford scholar was once walking on Boars Hill reading his Thucydides, when he was charged by a boar. With admirable calmness he shoved the book in the boar's open jaws and it choked to death. Hence the name.
Nope, Normans and their pigs, definitely.
That's a creative use of Thucydides to win an argument.
Quote from: Chuck the Grey on July 08, 2020, 10:01:09 PM
Quote from: RichT on July 07, 2020, 02:31:10 PM
A local story has it that an Oxford scholar was once walking on Boars Hill reading his Thucydides, when he was charged by a boar. With admirable calmness he shoved the book in the boar's open jaws and it choked to death. Hence the name.
Nope, Normans and their pigs, definitely.
That's a creative use of Thucydides to win an argument.
To be fair, even a paperback copy of Thucydides is thick enough to choke a boar 8)
I quite like Thucydides :)
With or without tomato ketchup?
with obviously and a side order of Herodotus
Quote from: Holly on July 09, 2020, 04:51:09 PM
I quite like Thucydides :)
Certainly if I had a boar to choke, he'd be one of my go-to authors. 8)
Quote from: Jim Webster on July 09, 2020, 08:51:52 PM
Quote from: Holly on July 09, 2020, 04:51:09 PM
I quite like Thucydides :)
Certainly if I had a boar to choke, he'd be one of my go-to authors. 8)
No, if it was a boar to choke I would go for Tolstoy
Quote from: Holly on July 09, 2020, 09:27:58 PM
Quote from: Jim Webster on July 09, 2020, 08:51:52 PM
Quote from: Holly on July 09, 2020, 04:51:09 PM
I quite like Thucydides :)
Certainly if I had a boar to choke, he'd be one of my go-to authors. 8)
No, if it was a boar to choke I would go for Tolstoy
Which is fair enough, but in all candour I'm more likely to be carrying a copy of Thucydides than anything by Tolstoy ;)
true.... ;D