The diet of the prehistoric peoples of Europe was rich and plentiful, this is indicated by excavations of the contents of settlement middens from the hunter gatherer period to the end of the Iron Age. At a Neolithic Narva culture site in Northwest Russia hunting and gathering still played a large part in their economy. Forest game such as elk, wild pig, red deer, brown bear, martin, beaver and badger were hunted. At coastal sites the remains of seal and mallard are commonly excavated. Also fish remains from pike, catfish, pike-perch, carp, perch and carp-bream were consumed.( Dolukhanov 1992: 96). At Porth Killer on Scilly (Ratcliffe., J., & STRAKER., V., 1996: 62) a late Bronze Age midden exposed a wealth of finds that testify that the diet of the people of this settlement was certainly not tedious. The list of bone remains is as follows, Fish: Wrass, Whiting, Bass, Saithe, Dab, Mullet, Conger Ell, Pollack, Gurnard, Common Eel and Plaice. Birds: Shelduck, Thrush, Puffin, Cormorant, Gannet, Redwing, Razorbill, Spotted flycatcher, Heron, Godwit and Wren. It is perplexing to imagine the amount of nutrition that could be acquired from a Wren, maybe it was that vital ingredient to a stock or stew! Puffins, however are till hunted in the Faro Isles of Denmark in possibly the same way as the Porth Killer inhabitants. Here is a description of their method from Anthropology of Cooking ( Jackson 1997: 37), 'The fowler sits in a traditional site on the cliffs and awaits the returning birds. There may be as many as fifty sites along the bird cliffs which have been in use for centuries. The fowler lays his pole alongside the rocks so that it cannot be noticed, but he holds it ready. When a puffin is hurling towards the site, the fowler sweeps up his pole into an arch which, hopefully, transects the puffin's flight. The only puffin allowed to escape is the 'herfing-bearer' that is a bird coming back with little fish hanging out of its coloured beak for its young. In the spring-time adult puffin are caught sitting in their burrow, A shaft is sunk down a little way from the entrance to the puffins underground tunnel, and a short stick with a bent 6-inch nail at the end of it is inserted in the hole. 

The puffins are dragged out and their neck are broken.' The relative ease in which these reasonably sized birds are caught would, have made them a regular dish on the prehistoric menu I am sure. The list continues with shellfish such as limpets, periwinkles and scallops, also sea mammals Wales and grey seal were excavated. Domestic animals were also added to this wild harvest, the bones of domestic Ox, Sheep/Goat, also wild Deer and pig were hunted. The presence of the domestic aurouch, sheep, and goats would indicate a milk supply, and ultimately cheese and buttermaking. Indicators of crops grown at Porth Killer from plant macrofossils are Barley, Emmer Wheat, the Celtic Bean and Oats. The wild vegetable macrofossil remains were of Chickweed, Fat hen, small nettle, wild radish, and sheeps sorrel, all of which I have tasted in my researches, and found them all extremely palatable. The remains of the midden at Porth Killer is typical throughout Europe at shoreline settlements. During the Iron age despite the development of arable farming of cereal crops and pulses also the domestication of pigs, sheep and cattle there was still the added bonus of wild game to their diet. At Biskupin Iron Age settlement in Poland game animals included wild boar, red deer, roe deer, wolf, hare, bear, beaver, lynx, otter and ducks. 'Wild animals apart from supplying extra meat and skins also provided the inhabitants of Biskupin lake village with horn and bone for the manufacture of tools'.(Piotrowski 1992: 90) Therefore during the whole of prehistory there was a bountiful wild harvest for the peoples of Europe to consume.

The sea and rivers were teaming with fish, the forests with game and the marshlands with an abundance of waterfowl. The technology needed to hunt this game is evident from archaeological finds of fish traps, harpoons, spearheads and arrows throughout Europe. It is assumed that the need to settle and acquire other technologies such as pottery and metallurgy was instrumental in the people of Europe giving up the hunter gatherer society, and not the lack of game to hunt.