Link: Evidence of Neolithic seaweed consumption in Orkney

Although fishing and shellfish took place, the people of Neolithic Orkney didn’t eat much seafood – a pattern also seen throughout Britain. But new research does suggest that marine plants were consumed – much as they were throughout history.

Click here to read an article from Current Archaeology, summarising the findings of a research paper published in October last year that points to red seaweed and sea kale as being part of the Neolithic diet in Orkney.

The human remains tested from Orkney came from the Quanterness and Isbister chambered cairns.

With this in mind, it is interesting to note that chemical analysis of the floors of the Ness of Brodgar’s Structure Fourteen suggested areas where marine resources, such as seaweed, may have been stored or prepared. Sea kale to go with your beef?