To talk about the prehistoric settlers of England we must refer to archaeological finds and their different interpretations – therefore much is based on speculation. It is hard to get a complete picture as small animal and fish bones may have decayed completely, leaving us to think that some animals weren’t eaten. Also, vessels made out of certain materials might not have survived because they were less sturdy, which makes us wonder what was used and how they made them and if they existed or how common they were. Grimston Lyles Hill made the earliest ceramics in Britain, dated to around 4000 BCE. Pots of this ware were found throughout Britain, so it is likely a trade was established. Again, the way these pots were used in cookery is uncertain. Archaeologists have suggested a method with ‘pot boilers’: stones that were placed in the fire and then added to the liquid in the pot to warm it. Others have said the pottery vessels were fired in such a way that they could have been placed on the embers of a fire directly to cook meals, without them breaking. Whatever happened, we know for certain that there was a culture in cooking. Quite extraordinarily, while I was in the final stages of writing these pages, scientists found evidence of wheat in Britain 8000 years ago. This suggests the grain was traded with people from the East, long before it was grown by the first British farmers. In ancient times man had to rely largely upon hunting and gathering, but things changed once he was able to farm, raise cattle and establish trades in food.
