Nuts and twigs

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fitzcoraldo F
fitzcoraldo Jan 4, 2006 17:40:12
Replying to PeterH

If I remember rightly I think that hazel is one of the first trees to re-colonise woodland clearences. I've read that small woodland clearances may have occured during the Mesolithic specifically to encourge the growth of hazel and ensure a ready source of high protein food which could be gathered and set aside against a bad winter.
I guess the people of later times would have continued cultivating these autumnal larders

H Hob
Hob Jan 4, 2006 21:57:24
Replying to fitzcoraldo

There were hazelnut shells in the fire at that mesolithic house up by Howick. Lots of them I think.

Given that the shells were deposited in piles during the mesolithic, and seem to last for a long time, part of me wonders if early transhumanant peoples may have found the evidence of their ancestors hazelnut feasts, and used this as clues to the suitability of the site for a camp/settlement. No way to ever prove/disprove that one, so it goes on the pile of random daft theories, catalogued as 'Half-baked idea No. 14340'