Overview

• Cardiff University researchers analyzed material from six large middens in Wiltshire and the Thames Valley, publishing the peer‑reviewed results in iScience on September 9, 2025.
• Isotopic signatures in bone collagen show livestock were raised both locally and far away, indicating repeated travel to communal feasts on a scale the authors say was unmatched in Britain until the medieval era.
• Each site displayed a distinct animal profile: Potterne favored pigs, Runnymede drew cattle from distance, and East Chisenbury was dominated by mostly local sheep.
• The team interprets these middens as regional lynchpins that sustained economies, expressed identities, and maintained intercommunity ties during climatic and economic instability as bronze lost value and farming expanded.
• Potterne’s midden is described as exceptionally large, covering roughly five football pitches and containing up to about 15 million bone fragments.