The broken bones of the horse, in all the caves above mentioned, leave no room to doubt that horseflesh was a common article of food at that time. It was so, indeed, throughout Roman Britain, and after the English invasion was used as late as the Council of Celchyth,[82] in the year 787. It was forbidden by the Church because it was eaten by the Scandinavian peoples in honour of Odin. In Norway,[83] Hacon, the foster-son of Æthelstan, was compelled to eat it by the bonders, in 956, and the revolt of the bonders which ended in the bloody battle of Stikklestadt, in which Olaf met his death, in 1030, was caused by his cruelties to the eaters of horseflesh. As Christianity prevailed over the worship of Thor and Odin, it was banished from the table. The present prejudice against its use is a remarkable instance of the change in taste, which has been brought about by an ecclesiastical rule aimed against a long-forgotten faith. The rule was not, however, always obeyed, for the Monks of St. Gall, in the eleventh century, not only ate horseflesh, but returned thanks for it, in a metrical grace, written by Ekkehard the Younger (died 1036):—
“Sit feralis equi caro dulcis sub cruce Christi.”[84]
The Cave of Longberry Bank.
The cave of Longberry Bank, near Penally, in Pembrokeshire, may also be classed with those which were inhabited in historic times, since it contained red fine-grained pottery of a kind commonly found in the ruins of Roman villas. It was explored by the Rev. H. H. Winwood, in 1866, in whose collection are the remains of the Bos longifrons, goat, badger, dog, as well as shells of oyster, large limpets and mussel from the neighbouring shore. Some of the bones are burned. Several human vertebræ and a metacarpal were probably the traces of an interment of unknown date; and the two flint flakes are of uncertain age.
The results obtained by the exploration of the caves described in this chapter are to be taken merely as the first-fruits of a new line of inquiry, which is likely to throw light on many points relating to art, history, and the range of the animals, and not as being perfect or final. On the continent, no historic caves of importance have as yet been explored.
CHAPTER IV.
CAVES USED IN THE AGES OF IRON AND OF BRONZE.
The Difference between Historic and Prehistoric Time.—The Prehistoric Fauna.—The Archæological Classification.—Caves of the Iron Age.—Caves of the Bronze Age in Britain.—The Caves of Césareda in Portugal probably occupied by Cannibals.—The Cave of Reggio in Apulia.