Britons Feasted on Frog Legs 8,000 Years Before French: Study

Since centuries the English and the French have been cultural and commercial enemies. The  French were nicknamed frog eaters by the Brits. But a startling find suggests the exact opposite; it seems the Brits were the first ones to discover the culinary quality of frogs.

A team of archaeologists at the University of Buckingham revealed that frog legs that were long considered to be the preserve of the French were in fact relished by the English 8,000 years before the French.

The archaeological dig, in Wiltshire, from the Mesolithic period led to the discovery of charred toad's leg along with small fish vertebrate bones that belonged to either trout or salmon as well as burnt Aurochs bones (the predecessor of cows). The amazing discovery dates back to between 6250 BC and 7596 BC making this find the earliest evidence of a cooked toad or frog leg found in the world.

David Jacques, Senior Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Buckingham, said in a press statement, "It would appear that thousands of years ago people were eating a Heston Blumenthal-style menu on this site, one and a quarter miles from Stonehenge, consisting of toads' legs, aurochs, wild boar and red deer with hazelnuts for main, another course of salmon and trout and finishing off with blackberries. This is significant for our understanding of the way people were living around 5,000 years before the building of Stonehenge and it begs the question - where are the frogs now?"

The fossil mammal specialist Simon Parfitt, of the Natural History Museum, gave information on this discovery. The dig resulted in a total of 12,000 finds that include over 650 animal bones all of which belong to the Mesolithic era.

The team also plans on exploring the spring where the magenta stones are changing color. They hope that the exploration will expand the knowledge and understanding of the Mesolithic hunter and how they along with the gatherers lived in Southern Britain.

"Currently Thatcham - 40 miles from Amesbury - is proving to be the oldest continuous settlement in the UK with Amesbury 104 years younger. By the end of this latest dig, I am sure the records will need to be altered," Andy Rhind-Tutt, Chairman of Amesbury Museum and Heritage Trust, concluded.