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: 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
bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35970195
Science Magazine:
Red deer came to Scottish islands from unexpected places
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
Same thing with the Orkney Vole, came from North Africa without touching Europe or mainland Britain
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.
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.