Archaeologists working at an Iron Age site near Cambridge have unearthed hundreds of frog skeletons. At present, the reason for such a concentration of bones remains a mystery.
Thousands of frog bones
The few 8,000 batrachian bones have been discovered in a pit 14 meters long close to the ancient human colony of Bar Hill, having flourished in the region between 400 BC. AD and 43 CE. Although it is not unusual to find remains of frogs at ancient sites, the quantity of skeletons discovered on this site dates back to the iron age baffles scientists.
” These were mostly common frogs and toads, which are now found near ponds across the country. “, Explain Vicki Ewens from London Archeology Museum.
Charred grain remains found near the site suggest that its inhabitants cultivated species that could attract pests such as beetles and aphids, which frogs love.
According to archaeologists, many ancient civilizations (including the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks and Romans) considered the frog to be a symbol of fertility. If there is evidence of consumption of amphibians in Britain dating back to the Stone Age, the absence of traces of combustion or cut marks makes this hypothesis implausible.
Three likely scenarios
Ewens estimates that batrachians, known to move in large numbers in the spring in search of wetlands to reproduce, could have fallen into the ditch and become trapped there. A particularly harsh winter could also have gotten the better of these creatures, which are known to nest in the mud to hibernate, or a ranavirus decimated them.
The 350 frog skeletons were unearthed about a meter below the surface. So far, only small amounts of Iron Age domestic waste, including potsherds, have been found in the area.
These remains are in addition to the many artefacts and human bones discovered during the forty excavations carried out between 2016 and 2018 over an area of 234 hectares.
Ewens hopes that their in-depth study will shed new light on the lives of the members of the colony of Bar Hilland will establish the cause of death of so many amphibians.
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