Archaeologists excavating Iron-Age remains have concluded that they indulged in ‘competitive feasting’ and tried to out-do one another through drinking. Artefacts dating back over 2,600 years suggest beer was the ‘barbarian’s beverage’, the middle classes drank honey-based meads (flavoured with herbs and flowers), while imported grape wines were reserved for the ‘power parties’ of the elite. For the upper classes, the quantity consumed was just as important as the quality. Large cauldrons were used as punch bowls, and one Chieftain owned nine drinking horns, one of which could hold 10 pints. Perhaps they weren’t so different from us after all – even though they lived before written records were kept!
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