The biggest problem when writing something historical is the details. For example, if my main character invites a bunch of hungry people over after dinner has been served (a) what will they eat, (b) how long will they have to wait for it, and (c) what will they do while they’re waiting? I’m guessing they’ll have a drink but (d) of what and (e) from what? Will they pass around whatever they’re drinking or does everyone carry their own cups? What would the cups be made of – wood, metal, horn? Maybe they have tankards.
A) What would they eat?
Here is a link on iron age food (https://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Archaeology/iron-age/ironage_food.html) There’s nothing that can be prepared quickly though, except the bog butter which would be ready to eat. Bog butter made me wonder if they had cheese.
This link (https://www.academia.edu/1488019/Celtic_and_Romano_British_Foods_from_the_Isles-_a_General_Approach) says they had skinny cows in Scotland but said there was little evidence for cheese. However, it also mentions souterrains (underground rooms) which may have been used to store cheese. Some have been found in Scotland. While rather long, the article did contain a lot of interesting information. I hadn’t realized cranberries were native to the UK or that they made alcoholic beverages from them in the iron age.
B) How long would they have to wait to eat?
In my situation: late in the evening, twenty or so surprise guests who’ve been traveling all day, I’m going to go with flatbread and maybe cheese as appetizers, then, because they had a lot of domestic meat (at least the Celts did) some roast meat – perhaps chicken or duck because it would be faster. A larger animal would take hours.
C) What would they do while waiting?
Drink, tell stories, play games?
D) What would they drink?
I’m guessing beer or ale. Heather ale was associated with the Picts, but the British food link above lists several kinds of ingredients that have been found in beer and ale.
E) What would they drink from?
Horns were apparently popular in Ireland and Celtic lands (https://alehorn.com/blogs/blog/ancient-irish-drinking-horns) and that stone that shows a bald guy on a horse with a horn to his lips that’s got a face on the tip – he’s apparently drinking from it, not blowing into it like I thought, at least that’s what the alehorn link says. Another link went into how to make the drinking horns and states the ones from the Highland cow can hold a liter each (https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections-research/our-research/featured-projects/early-medieval-scotland/bringing-the-past-to-life/drinking-horns/). Although I found pictures of historical re-enactors carrying their horns, the horns don’t look very travel-friendly. I haven’t seen any with lids and I can imagine they slide out of leather bands easily. Most pages implied the horns were for ceremonial purposes. It is possible to carry horns – I’m thinking of the powder horns people used to used to load guns, but I think it’s more likely that people carried canteens – perhaps made of skin. Jesus mentions wine-skins in the Bible several hundred years before the period I’m writing about, so I’m certain they existed.
Another option is tankards. Well-crafted tankards of yew wood (which is toxic!) that date from the late iron age have been found around Britain, but none have been found in the Scottish highlands so far (https://www.academia.edu/17869940/Tankards_of_the_British_Iron_Age).
The Picts also had clay and metal vessels, so those could have been used too. It’s not impossible to imagine that a small clan could have twenty-something clay or wooden or metal cups laying around, especially if they ate together every day. If they used a ceremonial horn they probably shared it, but if they had enough cups, I’d guess not.
Leave a Reply