Orkney

Research has found that red deer were brought to the Scottish islands by humans, but the question remains: where did the Neolithic colonists come from?

The riddle of the red deer of Orkney and the Outer Hebrides has just become even more baffling. Stags and hinds arrived with humans – but not from Scandinavia, nor from the British mainland.

And they can only have arrived by ship: transported by enterprising Neolithic colonists who had learned to treat deer as livestock, long ago and far away in Europe.

Full The Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/06/riddle-of-the-red-deer-orkney-deer-arrived-by-neolithic-ship-study-reveals

And from BBC News :
'Mystery voyage' of Scottish islands' red deer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35970195

Science Magazine:
Red deer came to Scottish islands from unexpected places

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/red-deer-came-scottish-islands-unexpected-places

The original paper published by The Royal Society:
Colonization of the Scottish islands via long-distance Neolithic transport of red deer

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1828/20160095

Posted by baza
6th April 2016ce

Edited 6th April 2016ce

Comments (3)

Same thing with the Orkney Vole, came from North Africa without touching Europe or mainland Britain	Posted by wideford 6th April 2016ce


But the BBC say that Belgian Farmers brought the Orkney Voles into Orkney on their boats 5,000 years ago. Belgians... who knew? Did the North Africans stop in Bruge on their way to Orkney? Were the North Africans the ones who were trading the voles? The BBC says that the thousands of vole bones and teeth found in Orkney arrived with the Belgian Farmers or "through Neolithic maritime trade and exchange networks". The old "vole trade" was obviously more important than I'd realised. However, they are more of a snack than a main meal. Perhaps a starter... to be folowed by a slab of venison stewed with Juniper Berries and New Potatoes.	Posted by Howburn Digger 6th April 2016ce


Five fat and juicy voles would make an excellent meat part of a main dish. Or just playtime for my cats. Strange to think they may have bred them. I wonder if some of the ye olde cookbooks have any vole recipes.	Posted by juamei 8th April 2016ce

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