SC - Sca-cooks Pennsic Dinner

[RichSCA@aol.com]

Well, my first reaction is: Tell me more.

IIRC, other  Gotland finds (bog finds, not grave finds) also had similar
stomach contents with some other things in the mix (where are my dratted
books when I want them?), such as wild flower and/or weed seed, grit, etc.,
that were accidentally harvested or ground/threshed along with the grains.
They differed from the English bog finds (See an overly-dramatic book
entitled Life and Death of a Druid Prince, IIRC), and I believe the
difference was the method of cooking the contents. I agree that this is the
sort of redaction that takes finesse. See if you can track down the original
report, if it has been made already. It should be able to tell you HOW it
was cooked based on gluten and starch  production, wetness. etc of the
grains, and it should also be able to tell you *at what temperature* it was
cooked, and for how long, if analyzed correctly. The technology exists, now,
to discover these things. The trouble is, they don't go sending the results
off to deserving SCAdians...... Try writing/speaking to the archaeologist
again. And then post this stuff for the rest of us to read and drool over.

Based on the data I mention, it should be possible to re-construct precisely
how they *think* it was cooked. It's up to you, once you've redacted it, to
decide if it's edible or not (and if it isn't, perhaps there was a
scientific error, a modern difference in the perception of what's edible, or
the subject simply had a really nasty meal before croaking). Sounds
pudding/gruel-like to me, not knowing temperature and cooking method. But it
could be more than one dish, don't forget, that was mixed in the stomach or
eaten together, such as fresh cheese and flatbreads made of pulse (peas and
grain meal). I'd think the latter choice would be far more common, but it's
been surmised there were many sorts of thick grain-like stews from the
period based on what I've read of other finds. Do we know what she died of?
That might help decide what it was likely she *didn't* eat. And if it was a
ceremonial/ritual death, that might help clear up the confusion (or not),
bread of some sort having been more common fodder for ritual meals (see our
Eucharist Bread discussion for more on THAT).

Aoife---not an expert on this stuff, just really really interested.

Ulf wrote:
I spoke earlier of a Viking age (a 10th C. Gotland womans grave, IIRC)
porridge based on archeological finds. I just rechecked with the one of
the archaeologist who worked with the find, and what the analysis said
was that it contained barley and pea, with milkfats most likely from
sheep.

I first thought that I should play with this in pease, and then propose
a reconstruction based on the data. But then I decided that this group
had too little traffic, and decided to see what could be done with it.

Ok, what suggestions does the group have for how to reconstruct it?

/UlfR