Cooking techniques in ancient times must also have varied quite considerably throughout Europe. 

In Ireland, Britain and Sweden there is evidence for a type of cooking method using heated stones and water pit. In Ireland these sites are called Filachta Fiadh (O’Drisceoil 1990:157) where more than 4,000 sites of this type have been identified. They appear as mounds of fire cracked stones usually in a crescent or a horseshoe shape. In the centre of this horseshoe is a typical watertight through or pit when excavated, in which the heated stones were dropped into during use. There is a reference to this practice in 'History of Ireland'. (Keating 1908:326 ). 

'it was their custom to send their attendants about noon with whatever they had killed in the mornings hunt to an appointed hill, to kindle raging fires thereon, and put in them a large number of stones; and to dig two pits in the yellow clay of the moorland, and put some meat on spits to roast before the fire: and then to bind another portion of it with grasses in bundles. And set it to boil in the larger of the two pits, and keep plying with stones that were in the fire, making them seethe often until they were cooked. And these fires were so large that their sites are seen today in Ireland burnt to blackness and these sites are called filacht fian by the peasantry meaning cooking places'

Athenaus quoting Posidonius also mentions the Celts in Europe cooking meat in water (Tierney 1960: 247) 'Their food consists of a few loaves of bread, but large quantities of meat prepared in water or roasted over coals on spits.' This account mirrors the Irish one very well I feel. Last year at Biskupin in Poland (a substantial Iron Age lake dwelling reconstruction), I was demonstrating this particular technique amongst others, to the general public there. It is a very effective method of cooking any joint of meat. The basic principles for cooking meat in this way are the dropping of red-hot stones into a water filled, wood lined trough. There has been some research by Victor Buckley ( Buckley 1990: 170) into the most effective types of stones to use and re-heat in the fire.

'A number of tentative conclusions can be drawn from the combined evidence gleaned from the experimental testing of shatter variation in different rock's and the random analysis of samples from two sites in different geological areas.  

Firstly, drift-derived material was most commonly used and, though the type of drift material was different, sedimentary rocks were preferred. Secondly, igneous and some metamorphosed rocks are very reusable and may present a problem for archaeologists,

particularly in northern areas, who may find a different morphology for fulachta fladh owing to this lithic longevity.'

Although burnt mounds are widespread in Ireland it is interesting to observe the absence of fulachta fladh in Counties Galway, Limerick and Clare. This is probably due to the limestone strata as Prof. O'Kelly observed in his paper (O’Kelly 1954: 144).

Limestone on contact with heat and water would turn to calcium hydroxide. So although this is an efficient way to cook meat it probably did not merit the carrying of stones long distances to cook with. Doubtless, only if rocks in the local geology were suitable was this method of cooking used. The size of the meat joints that I used in my experimentation at Biskupin averaged 5 kilos each. Each day we were plied with three such joints of Beef or Pork to cook, and on two occasions a whole Lamb was supplied.  

The stones my team and I found in the locality were fine-grained granite, similar to the ones that I had used previously in Cornwall. These stones were heated in a fierce fire for about one hour until they were red hot. About a dozen were then dropped into the

water trough and the ensuing sizzle and whistling noise was quite deafening. It takes approximately 15 minutes for red-hot stones to release most of their heat into the water, consequently the water gradually came to the boil as a pan might on a conventional cooker. The meat was wrapped in long fresh wayside grasses, in the fashion described by Keating in his description from Irish folklore. These grasses had to be tied tightly with string, on this occasion spun nettle fibre. Linen string is a good alternative but it tends to not have the elasticity of the nettle fibre, and on some occasions goes slack in the water. Once the water was boiling, the grass wrapped meat

was ready to drop into the trough. Every so often over the course of two hours hot stones were added to the trough just to keep the water simmering. At the end of this time the meat was taken out, and the grasses removed to reveal on each occasion consistently well cooked meat. All that was required was to crisp up the sides on some hot stones taken out of the fire, and it was ready to eat. This left the water filled trough full of meat juices and fat from the meat, and it occurred to me that this could have been considered by our prehistoric forbears as too good to waste. So I undertook to see what could be done with such fat rich water. The most logical and easiest solution was to mix a little bread dough, and drop it into the trough half way through the meat cooking. This dough dumpling takes on the flavour of the meat from its juices and fat. When the meat is taken out, the dough dumpling provides tasty bread to eat with it. This dough required no extra effort or stones than was needed to cook the meat. I feel it would have been a logical utilisation of this finite heat source. In the seventeenth century herby dough dumplings cooked in cauldrons with boiling meat was common practice (Masson 1974: 120). This fat rich pudding would have been savoured I feel if it had been made, especially as most of the flavour of meat is usually released from its fat and juices during cooking. The festival at Biskupin that I was demonstrating these techniques at lasted 9 days, so my team were also able to demonstrate how raw materials might have been utilised on a daily basis. One member of my team made the bones of the previous day’s joints into bone needles. The other two members made platters and serving baskets out of local grasses, and sewed them together with the bone needles.

Another cooking technique that was demonstrated was the clay baking of fish. There are some archaeological indications for the cooking of food in clay in stone lined pits.

At Woolley Barrows, in North Cornwall an excavation was undertaken in by E.A.K. Higgenbotham (Higgenbotham 1976: 10) at a Neolithic longbarrow and a Bronze age round barrow. The excavation of the longbarrow exposed a large stone area extending

up to 9m from the edge of the mound. Resting upon this stone surface was a small hearth, 0.60m by 0.70m, bounded by siltstone blocks, at the centre of which the soil had been scorched to a light red colour. On top of this contemporary stone surface were small fragments of amorphous, slightly burnt and reddened clay. These were suggested by Mr Higgenbotham to be contemporary with the Neolithic flint in the barrow. Another example of these peculiar lightly fired clay fragments, can be found at an excavation on Bodmin moor at the Bronze age cairns at Stannon. This area of Bodmin moor is rich in prehistoric monuments. Within two kilometres there are three stone circles, innumerable hut circles and enclosures including a Bronze Age Settlement. (Harris, Hooper, Trugian 1976,1977: 141). Cairn one exposed at its centre a pit that had been dug into the subsoil to a depth of 35cm. The pit was round and 1 metre in diameter. Its sides sloped to the bottom rather like a cauldron and was lined with small stones. The bottom of the pit contained large carbonised chunks of wood which were reasonably preserved due to the wet conditions. This pit had been back filled with soil and a flat stone had been placed on top. Around the edge of the carefully infilled pit eight stones were placed. These acted as supports for eight larger stones, which were, placed leaning against them. This was repeated several times in what appeared to be a spiral pattern. Over this structure was piled a large number of small moorland stones. In cairn two there were two pits one was long and rectangular

the other was a small round pit next to it. The rectangular pit had a soil infil and the small round one contained traces of charcoal. However, between these two pits was a piece of soft shapeless lightly fired clay. The third pit was a typical cairn burial containing a decorated biconical urn. This suggests that as only one cairn contained a burial, that the other two were in some way part of a ceremony connected with it. Especially cairn one, which was so carefully covered by a flat stone supporting the petal like structure of stones on top. It could be possible that some sort of wake meal at the burial was consumed. The small fragment of soft anomalous clay found between the two pits in cairn two suggests that some food might have been baked in it, as it was not comparable to any typical ceramic find. One would have expected quite a considerable amount of this partly fired clay, if this were the case. It is impossible to suggest why there was only one piece, maybe the relations took home a piece of the clay from the wake of the deceased, as a momento of their farewell meal. This is pure conjecture, but plausible I feel as a hypothesis. Ceremonial earth ovens associated with funerals are well documented by anthropologists studying the Maori peoples of New Zealand and in Polynesia. In the Maori whakau ceremony the oven was large enough to cook a meal for the entire funeral party. In other ceremonies, such as those connected with exhumation and the tohi rite over children, a number of ovens were prepared to provide a meal for all present (Buck 1974: 501). On Tikopia Island in

Polynesia the earth oven was also used, and described as a pit in the ground in which food is cooked by being laid on hot stones and covered with leaves. (Firth 1957: 94). I have reconstructed the Stannon cairn one pit and found the cauldron shape had a spectacular effect on the ferocity of the fire within it. This being due to the smooth airflow in and out of the pit. When reconstructing this pit it became apparent that the stone lining in the pit was there for a specific purpose as the base for possible northern European earth oven. (See Fig 1 ). The fire can be lit directly on top of the stones in the pit to be clamped a second hearth nearby can heat the other half of the stones

needed for the top. During my experimentation I found that because of the fierce fire in the pit induced by the free flowing air, the stone lining in the pit became red hot in half the usual time. A joint of meat wrapped in a few giant burdock leaves (Arctium minus) was placed onto the hot stones, after the un-burnt wood was taken out. The stones from the second hearth were added to the top and turf was layered on this to keep the heat in. After three hours the meat was taken out of the pit cooked to perfection and the original stone lining left in tact for use on another occasion. This cairn pit when reconstructed proved to be a very efficient earth oven base that indicates it could have been used for culinary purposes.

A indication that food was clay baked in a settlement situation was found a Trethellan Nowakowski 1991: 57,140) a Bronze Age lowland settlement. In house 142 the description strongly suggests the remains of a clay baked meal.

 'The most significant feature about this hearth was the amount of burnt clay it produced; the only context within the entire settlement which produced burnt clay fragments in this quantity. Much of the clay was found as hard baked amorphous lumps many of which displayed surfaces apparently smoothed and moulded by hand and through the careful piecing together of some fragments it was discovered that some originally formed parts of a shallow clay dish ....... also found in pit 3046 similar pieces of clay a deep red in colour. Very friable pieces of fired clay of which only two pieces join to form the edge of what appears to be the triangular rim of a larger flat based object.'

This interpretation is quite plausible, but the triangular shaped pieces do not suggest a dish on closer inspection (See Fig 2). During my research into the possible methods of clay baking foods I have found that when a joint of meat is wrapped in river clay it is very difficult to carry to the fire to dry before baking. If however, a piece of wood is placed underneath it it makes the task much simpler. This wooden plank enables one to move and turn the clay covered joint around the fire before baking. When the clay is dry the joint is dropped on top of the fire and the wooden plank is burnt away during the cooking process. The clay at the end of the allotted cooking time usually two hours for a 3 kilo joint, has to be broken apart. But is always soft and friable because river clay was used. This clay is freely available in Cornwall as it borders most streams. It is not plastic enough to be used for pottery but is wholly adequate when it is used to clay bake food. I conducted the same experiment at Lake Ledro Pile Dwelling museum in Northern Italy. On this occasion I used the fine white lakeside clay to cover one fish, and some raku ceramic clay to cover the other. After an hour in a fierce open fire the two fish were examined. The raku clay which is usually considered the best type of clay for bonfire firing ceramics, had cracked open and the fish had been exposed to the ferocity of the fire, there was little more than a charred fish skeleton remaining! The other fish covered in this otherwise useless white silty clay was still perfectly sealed. When it was cracked open a perfectly cooked succulent

fish was revealed. It was interesting to find that the good ceramic clay was inadequate for the purpose, yet the clay conversely useless for ceramic manufacture was perfect for this specific task! It is because it is not of ceramic quality that its residue in archaeology is soft and friable and can be misinterpreted as daub. During my demonstrations in Poland, some river clay was smeared over a 3 kilo King Carp, which had been previously wrapped in wild herbs, and tied with nettle fibre string. (See Fig 3 ). The fish was placed onto a split log and put to the side of a fire pit for one hour, then turned and dropped onto the fire for 1 hour 30 minutes. At the end of which

time the clay was broken off, and the fish was cooked to perfection. The rough pieces of biscuit fired clay however, took on an almost identical appearance to some of the clay fragments found at Trethellan.

A typical feature of prehistoric settlements in Cornwall are piles of small round pebbles, thought to be either for sling shot use or as pot boilers. I have conducted a great deal of research into the uses of these small stones in cooking, and have found them to be surprisingly efficient. A layer of small beach stones was arranged on the ground and a fire was made on top of them. On this particular occasion I was researching possible soft cheese making techniques using pot boilers. A large pot was placed on a low table a few metres away from the fire. Into this pot was poured one litre of whole milk, and a small bowl of sour cream to increase the acidity and help

separate the curds and whey. With the use of a pair of hazel stick tongs, five stones were dropped into the milk. The stones don't tend to release their heat immediately but after a few minutes the milk began to steam. More stones were added three in all, and the milk began to boil. Almost immediately the curds separated form the whey, which were subsequently strained through some rushes (Juncus effusus), and the soft cheese remained. The practicability of using hot stones to heat the contents of cooking pots became immediately apparent. Especially if one has had some experience as I have, of stirring pots of food over a smoky fire. Food can be prepared at some distance from the fire leaving a space for people to either warm themselves, or spit roast some meat. All that is needed to keep many different pots simmering is the addition every so often of a few firestones. As the stones cooled in the pots they could be thrown back into the fire for re-heating. This technique was also used in Hawaii, but instead of dropping hot stones into a ceramic pot a calabash which is a hollowed out gourd shell was used as the container. Fish was thought to be delicious by the Hawaiian Islanders when cooked

At Lake Ledro another interesting cooking technique was found in the archaeology. A loaf made from the flour of coarsely ground cereals was discovered looking like a large doughnut. It is suggested that the dough had been wrapped around a previously heated stone that was found at the site (Tomasi: 1982) The similarity of the ethnographic evidence to the remains found in northern European archaeology cannot be disregarded. The efficiency of the earth oven as a cooking technique must have occurred to primitive cultures on a global scale, not only does the method leave the community free from work for four or five hours, it saves considerable amounts of fuel. The fulacht fladh if the local geology is appropriate also fulfilled a need as a successful method of cooking food for hunting expeditions, the numbers of such sites in Ireland substantiates this. The use of pot boilers from my own experience is a far superior method to cooking liquids in pots on the edge of a smoky fire, also leaving the fireside free for the community to warm themselves.