Tanning hides for leather must have
raised a particular problem, since the hides had to be protected from the
hunting dogs for which Britain was famous.
Hanging the hides from trees seemed a possible solution. In testing that notion, I sewed a sheep hide into a bag with
the wool side out, filled wit with water ad oak chips for tannin, and left it
hanging in a tree. Something quite
extraordinary and unexpected occurred.
Flies laid their eggs in the flesh between the wool and the skin. Within days, thousands of maggots hatched out and began to eat the flesh layer between the wool and the skin, moving around the hide evenly and methodically. As a result, the wool is cut away, slowly peels off the skin, and falls to the ground. When the maggots have finished, they turn into flies and disappear, leaving a perfectly clean piece of sheepskin leather – and the fleece cut off in a single piece.
There is no archaeological evidence that this technique was used, but I’d wager that it was. The people were too inventive and efficient not to have exploited so handy a technique. My experiments leave little doubt that these were people who learned to build a varied and rather comfortable life.