5. Everyday Life

5.1 Farming

Almost everyone in Iron Age Britain was a farmer. Most people would have lived in a farm or small farming village. It is likely that many craftspeople had to help grow much of their own food and even warriors were probably farmers.

By the end of the Iron Age, Britain was a landscape made up of many small farms and villages. A typical farm might contain one or more round houses inside a farmyard surrounded by a hedge and ditch. In some parts of Britain, though, people lived in larger villages.

The same crops and animals were raised by most farmers. Wheat and barley were grown in small fields; other crops included also beans. Timber was also an important crop as it was needed for fuel and for building houses, carts, furniture and tools. Cattle, sheep and pigs were kept for meat and for their manure. These animals were smaller than those kept on modern British farms. As well as meat cattle provided milk and leather and were also used to pull the plough. It is probable that sheep also provided milk as well as meat and wool. Pigs were kept just for their meat. Dogs were kept on Iron Age farms, but there is no evidence that they were used as sheep dogs. Chickens were introduced to Britain in the last centuries of the Iron Age.

5.2 Food and drink

Bread, stews, porridges and beer were probably what most people in Iron Age Britain ate and drank most of the time. Fresh meat roasted over a fire or cooked in stews would probably only have been eaten on quite rare occasions; most people probably ate little meat every day, and then it was possibly dried or salted meat, or sausages. Archaeological evidence shows that beef (cattle), pork (pigs) and mutton or lamb (sheep) were the most common types of meat eaten, but horse and dog were also eaten.

Wheat and barley would have been ground into flour to make bread, using quernstones. Milk was probably used to make cheeses. There is little evidence for fish eating in Iron Age Britain and other wild foods were not commonly eaten.

Direct evidence for how food was cooked comes from the pots, ovens, cauldrons and firedogs (iron supports for cooking meat over a fire). Many day to day meals were probably cooked in pots directly on a fire. The new shapes of pot were wheel-made when previously British pots had been handmade. Beer and mead were most common drinks.

Ovens were common and could be used to cook bread and other foods. Large amounts of meat would have been boiled in large cauldrons or roasted over a fire. Not all cooking took place indoors - outdoor hearths and ovens have been found on some Iron Age settlement sites. When eating inside, people would sit on the floor and if the feast was outside, they would sit on hay or skins.

Like in most cultures, food played a central role in Celtic society. The Feast refers to a formal social gathering, where the men sat in a circle with the leader in the central position.  Beside him sat the host, and from there people sat in order of distinction / importance on either side of the leader. Each attendee had a 2 member entourage: a shield man, who stood behind his master, and a spear man. The spear men ate together in the same room, but in another area.

The food was divided in a ritualized way. The first part was the "hero's portion", where the beast was cut and divided according to status. When the hindquarters were served, the thigh went to the bravest hero. If multiple men claimed this piece, they would fight for it to death. Others describe the leg of pork going to the king, the haunch to the queen and the head to a charioteer.

Cooking and eating practices changed through time. In the last hundred years of the Iron Age in southern England people began to use new ways to cook and serve food. These new ways of eating and drinking came from north-eastern France. The most powerful people showed their importance by using the finest plates and cups, which were made in what is today France. Such people also used Roman cooking utensils and could import wine and olive oil from Roman Italy or Spain in large transport jars called 'amphorae'. Entertaining guests become one way to show off importance and wealth.