Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Only dairy products for Gods – offered by Stonehenge builders.


The following article published by the researchers of University of York made an interesting finding that the Stonehenge builders of 25th century BCE offered only milk products to Gods in their ceremonies while their usual food was mainly non-vegetarian. Though there is no evidence so far of them having consumed vegetarian food, the evidence on only- dairy products indicates an evolved Thought (borrowed?) on non-violence as a virtue which is needed to connect with Gods or higher realms.  

The research has revealed that the inhabitants seemed to possess knowledge of how to prepare foods thereby indicating that they were either immigrants or have had a long previous history. This is to mean that they were not primitive but already developed ones. For such people to use only dairy products such as milk and yoghurt in religious offerings, it also means that they have learned or inherited that habit from someone. Who they could be?


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From


The culinary habits of the Stonehenge builders.
Posted by TANN

A team of archaeologists at the University of York have revealed new insights into cuisine choices and eating habits at Durrington Walls -- a Late Neolithic monument and settlement site thought to be the residence for the builders of nearby Stonehenge during the 25th century BC. Stonehenge.


[Credit: WikiCommons]

Together with researchers at the University of Sheffield, detailed analysis of pottery and animal bones has uncovered evidence of organised feasts featuring barbeque-style roasting, and an unexpected pattern in how foods were distributed and shared across the site.

Chemically analysing food residues remaining on several hundred fragments of pottery, the York team found differences in the way pots were used. Pots deposited in residential areas were found to be used for cooking animal products including pork, beef and dairy, whereas pottery from the ceremonial spaces was used predominantly for dairy.

Such spatial patterning could mean that milk, yoghurts and cheeses were perceived as fairly exclusive foods only consumed by a select few, or that milk products -- today often regarded as a symbol of purity -- were used in public ceremonies.

Unusually, there was very little evidence of plant food preparation at any part of the site. The main evidence points to mass animal consumption, particularly of pigs. Further analysis of animal bones, conducted at the University of Sheffield, found that many pigs were killed before reaching their maximum weight. This is strong evidence of planned autumn and winter slaughtering and feasting-like consumption.

The main methods of cooking meat are thought to be boiling and roasting in pots probably around indoor hearths, and larger barbeque-style roasting outdoors -- the latter evidenced by distinctive burn patterns on animal bones. A reconstruction drawing of how the prehistoric village of Durrington Walls  might have looked in 2500BC

[Credit: English Heritage]

Bones from all parts of the animal skeleton were found, indicating that livestock was walked to the site rather than introduced as joints of meat. Isotopic analysis indicates that cattle originated from many different locations, some far away from the site. This is significant as it would require orchestration of a large number of volunteers likely drawn from far and wide.

The observed patterns of feasting do not fit with a slave-based society where labour was forced and coerced, as some have suggested. Dr Oliver Craig, Reader in Archaeological Science at the University of York and lead author on the paper, said: "Evidence of food-sharing and activity-zoning at Durrington Walls shows a greater degree of culinary organisation than was expected for this period of British prehistory.

The inhabitants and many visitors to this site possessed a shared understanding of how foods should be prepared, consumed and disposed. This, together with evidence of feasting, suggests Durrington Walls was a well-organised working community." Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Professor at University College London and Director of the Feeding Stonehenge project who also led the excavations at Durrington Walls, said: "This new research has given us a fantastic insight into the organisation of large-scale feasting among the people who built Stonehenge.

Animals were brought from all over Britain to be barbecued and cooked in open-air mass gatherings and also to be eaten in more privately organized meals within the many houses at Durrington Walls. "The special placing of milk pots at the larger ceremonial buildings reveals that certain products had a ritual significance beyond that of nutrition alone. The sharing of food had religious as well as social connotations for promoting unity among Britain's scattered farming communities in prehistory. " Dr Lisa-Marie Shillito, who analysed the pottery samples and recently joined Newcastle University, added: "The combination of pottery analysis with the study of animal bones is really effective, and shows how these different types of evidence can be brought together to provide a detailed picture of food and cuisine in the past."

The study has been published in the Antiquity Journal.
Source: University of York [October 12, 2015]

3 comments:

Kudanthaiamudhan said...

Dear madam, your silence on poll predictions astrologically is understood as you had given up writing after the debacle last year on modi and jayas political fortune. Now i would like to bring out my little knowledge about recent bihar election like i had predicted earlier about modis victory and also about jayas possible legal implications with jail sentence which she had to undergo last year. Now the elections are over in bihar and poll pundits predict on post exit poll that both NDA and Nitish will win in this elections. we have to see who will win whether nitish or modi based on both horoscope. would you please post this predictions on public domain as i am not worried about failure in predictions as success and failure is not in our hand.
Modi - His lagna vrichika in which moon attained neecha bangha with mars in its own sign. 2nd and 5th lord jupiter is in 4th sign kumbha and rahu in 5th meena, both venus and saturn in simha 10th and in 11th kanya, ketu,sun and mercury are there in which mercury is exalted. This horoscope appears to be a normal horoscope but the constellation of stars in which above planets stand are important. Totally four planets - sun 10th lord, mercury 11th lord,saturn 3rd and 4th sign lord, ketu all are in 11th kanya in SUN star.Moon 9th lord in saturn and so rahu in 5th at saturn star. Jupiter lord of 2nd and 5th is in mars star- lagnathipathi and lagna lord mars is in jupiter 2nd and 5th - exchange of stars between jupiter and mars. venus the lord of 7th is in 10th sign in its own star with saturn in sun star. For political, constellation placement in the stars of SUN for power and Saturn for mass appeal and support from mass are important. Currently modi has moon dasa - jupiter bukthi and mars anthram - jupiter aspects 1oth sign mutually aspected by saturn lord of 3rd and 4th and hence dasa- bukthi are good for him . In gochara, jupiter is in simha 10th sign which is not good and will shake him with opposition to tarnish his image and will give him a tough challenges and saturn is transiting its second round sani-sati which will make him work hard to get the positive results. Hence he hand to address totally 22 rallys in bihar spending lot of efforts to fight.
The result is due to be announced on 8th sunday. Modi was sworn on 26th sep (8)2014 and he was born on 17th sep (8) 1950 at 11 am in meshana gujarat.In chart both saturn and sun both are very favorable to him. i believe he will scrap through in bihar elections with a margin to form the government by BJP.

Kudanthaiamudhan said...


Nitish kumar - His lagna is gemini, saturn lord of 8th and 9th is in 4th kanya, 9th sign kumbha there are four planets Rahu- jupiter-sun-mercury. Kumbha is owned by saturn which is placed in 8th from Rahu and jupiter the dasa lord and bukthi lord respectively. moon lord of 2nd is neecha in 6th sign is not cancelled by any yoga. venus lord of 5th and 12th and mars the lord of 6th and 11th are in 10th sign meena owned by jupiter. Both saturn and mars mutually aspect each other - which is not good as 6th lord mars in 10th aspecting the 8th and 9th lord saturn in 4th. so saturn is neutralized by mars. saturn in sun star, venus and mars in saturn star, sun and mercury in rahu star. Hence four planets in 9th sign ability depends upon Rahu and its associated planets particularly Jupiter will decide his political future.Totally two planets are in saturn star and one planet is in sun star.

Rahu and jupiter are in jupiter star the lord of 7th and 10th kendrathipathi dosha, which is not a good benefic for this lagna. Rahu dasa and jupiter bukthi are running now till dec 2016 and hence jupiter will influence him towards spirituality due to its association with rahu. i feel Rahu will give high hopes and some time it will drop suddenly by making a big fall particularly with Jupiter association in order to give a person wisdom and spiritual inclination after giving defeat. Hence this dasa- bukthi is not a favorable period for Nitish kumar.

Now in gochara, like modi, nititsh also has Jupiter in 10th from moon at vrichika and hence his name will be also tarnished like his association with a tantrik in photo and about beef comments ect. Also saturn has second round sani-sati like in modi chart made nitish to spend almost 4th months efforts and hard work to win this election.

But with the weak rahu - Jupiter dasa bukthi, i feel he will not be able to be the CM on 8th nov. Since Rahu will always cut the chances at last hours by giving high hopes and confidence, rahu will drop a person suddenly. we have to see. Same vedic astrological books say that Rahu will lift a person to the highest in order to make him fall later. So with some reservation in my mind about the nature of Rahu, one has to see the final results which i presume would be in favor of modi .

Individual life depends upon his karma and planets can change its nature based on the karma balance to be fulfilled . Rahu and ketu are difficult to predict as ketu denotes past karmas and rahu denotes future karmas. The present karma is the like between both rahu and ketu. For nitish, while rahu is in jupiter star at 9th sign of saturn whereas ketu is in 3rd sign of sun lord in venus star with both stars and signs are in opposite polarities. So we keep the fingers crossed.

Kudanthaiamudhan said...

Now Lalu- Nitish came to power with full 2/3 majority ,My above predictions were made with some reservation and doubt in corner of my mind about Rahus nature which is in association with Guru, sun and mercury and Rahu-guru both planets in jupiter stars in 9th sign, It appears to have given the positive results to Nitish but it Could be up to dec 2016 after which Rahu- Sani dasa- bukthi starts. Saturn is in 4th house, reckoned 8th sign from rahu which means rahu- sani will be in sashtangham. Now Lalu who got more seats than Nitish will be the king maker and also the remote controller. will Nitish be able to withstand pressure from Lalu. As i told, Rahu will give surprise results, it will drop or it will lift s person to highest level only to drop later. so we have to wait for one more year till dec 2016 about Nitish- lalu relationship or rift. Yadhavas are caste oriented in mind and from the days of Lord krishna, they considered lord krishna first as their community leader and they did not see him as a god.They were considered as foolish people. Sri andal in her thirupavai pasuram mentioned them as foolish people in tamil as " arivu onetrum ella ayarkulam". They are the cowherd people living on milking and cows .True to their nature in 2002, when Lalu asked yadhavas to assemble in his public meeting at patna holding sticks in their hands,, more than 10 lacs yadhavas came with sticks in their hands. Lord krishna wanted them to be perished before his departure to vaikund in line with the curse of kandhari. Yadhavas - muslims partnership is very strong backbone for Lalu. While yadhavas groom cows and live on milk, muslims eat beefs.Both can not be separated as yandhavas in bihar are different than UP where shrines like kasi, madura and auydiya exist while in bihar ,yadhvas do not have a strong link with hinduism. True to Rahu nature who has to be pleased by wearing Gomedaka the hessinite stone, the reddish blood like stone in the shape of rectangular like in mecca " kappa" unlike for other grahas which will be in circular round shaped stones except for Rahu. Gomedhaka means the tallow of stomach of cow which means the beef. Hence this combination of yadhavs with muslims suited very much for nitish as he runs rahu dasa. He wears this stone ring in his left hand. Hence his silence on beef eating by hindus comments was understood. Ultimately Rahu can not be easily understood as he can change all the predictions since he is the giver of future karmas in the present life which we can not realize as it will be in our darkness.