An article on bbc.co.uk by Helen Briggs - Stone Age people roasted rodents for food - reports on the archaeological evidence which suggests that rodents appear to have been roasted for food by Stone Age people as early as 5,000 years ago.

Bones from archaeological sites in Orkney, such as Skara Brae (above), show voles were cooked or boiled for food, or possibly for pest control. Scientists believe this is the first evidence for the exploitation of rodents by Neolithic people in Europe.

Neolithic cooking at Skara Brae #Orkney #archaeology https://t.co/Kd0ujj3hzx #Neolithic pic.twitter.com/5sTN674Dw2

— Bradshaw Foundation (@BradshawFND) October 24, 2016

The Orkney vole - found only on the Orkney archipelago - is thought to be a subspecies of the European common vole. Charred bones of this subspecies indicate that it was probably cooked for food, either by fire or by boiling.

Dr Jerry Herman, curator of mammals at National Museums of Scotland, states that the large amounts of rodent remains in human dwellings points at human intervention, and probably as a good source of protein.

Scientists have been working at the Skara Brae site since the 1970's. The findings of the latest research are published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

A recent genetic study on the same samples deduced that the vole was introduced to Orkney direct from what is now Belgium, brought to the island by sea along with cattle and deer by early farmers or traders.

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/