Excavations at Bar Hill between 2016 and 2018 uncovered approximately 8,000 frog bones inside a ditch that filled up within a single year. Researchers determining predator involvement identified hunting birds such as short-eared owls or hen harriers as the likely culprits that deposited the remains. Measurements of the upper arm bones revealed that the vast majority of victims were young frogs that perished during their first winter. Radiocarbon testing performed by the University of Vienna confirmed the massive accumulation dates securely to the Roman era.
Key points
The research published in Environmental Archaeology resolved a nearly decade-long archaeo…: The research published in Environmental Archaeology resolved a nearly decade-long archaeological mystery concerning the rapid bone accumulation.
Hunting birds such as short-eared owls or hen harriers likely generated the deposit by us…: Hunting birds such as short-eared owls or hen harriers likely generated the deposit by using the ditch as a seasonal feeding ground.
Clearing woodlands for open grazing land eliminated protective cover, exposing large numb…: Clearing woodlands for open grazing land eliminated protective cover, exposing large numbers of breeding frogs to predatory raptors.
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An archeological mystery involving thousands of tiny bones has been solved and offers an unusual insight into Britain's ancient wildlife. What was thought to be an amazing frog graveyard found in a ditch near Cambridge turned out to be the remains of a seasonal feeding ground used by birds of prey almost 1,700 years ago. After almost a decade of investigation, the researchers traced the remains to a group of hunting owls, showing how changes in the landscape in Roman Britain helped create the conditions for a giant amphibian feast.
A rare find outside Cambridge
According to reports in BBC and Phys Org, around 8,000 frog bones were unearthed between 2016 and 2018 during archeological investigations linked to the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme. The remains were recovered from one ditch close to the site of an Iron Age roundhouse at Bar Hill, near Cambridge.
The concentration of bones puzzled archeologists especially since evidence from the site suggested that the ditch filled in only a year. This meant that the accumulation could not be readily explained by…
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