Our ancestors of the Iron Age Europe had a varied diet, consisting of meat and plants like barley, oats, wheat, millet, rye and legumes like vetch, broad beans, peas and lentils. Millet especially played a major part in the diet, since it arrived from the east in the late bronze age.

Different vegetables could be found in different regions, as well as industrial plants like flax. Beside the plant remains, crop processing is also indicated by finds like quernstones, hand mills and farming equipment.

People also tended their livestock. Cattle were the most common domestic animal, followed by sheep, goats and pigs. Such ratios can be determined by the number of found animal bones in the vicinity of ancient settlements within an area. Goats, pigs and draught horses of local breed were much smaller compared to modern animals.

Hunting and fishing also took place where possible, but were not major aspects of the diet in inland Europe. In many communities, hunting was an activity reserved for the local elite. Ultimately, cultures and communities used what resources and provisions their home region offered.

People could smoke and salt their food to prolong their edibility, as well as store them in ashes - a method passed on since the stone age. Cooking with a baking bell also increased in the Iron Age.

Cheese and wild fruits were also consumed and the Phoenicians spread the growing of olives and grapes, and the production of wine across the Mediterranean and beyond.


Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1mnK9tpEvz9UgeVWuUh8fPF…

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Learn more about the history in the heart of Europe:    • History in the heart of Europe  

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