Scientists saw something that surprised them in Britain near Cambridge, UK. During a roadside excavation on Bar Hill, scientists found 8,000 ancient toad and frog bones.
Between 2016 and 2018, this excavation occurred near a house built in the Iron Age. During this, bones were found in a 14-metre long, i.e., 6 feet deep pit. Scientists had to dig one meter of Top Soil and Subsoil to reach this graveyard of frogs. Finding so many remains in one place is an unusual and extraordinary discovery. Also, scientists have not yet understood how all these reached the pit.
The mystery remains in the bones of frogs.
Vicki Ewens, the senior archaeologist at the Museum of London Archaeology-MOLA, says that while working on so many sites in London, we have not found so many frogs anywhere. It is surprising to see so many bones from one pit. According to scientists, these bones are mostly from common species of frogs, and toads found all over the country. It also has the remains of a frog in a puddle, which is shocking.
Talking about the Stone Age, such evidence has been found which shows that people used to eat frogs then. However, there is neither any cut nor any burn mark on the bones found in the pit. Therefore it cannot be said that people had eaten these frogs. However, even if the frogs had been boiled, traces of it would have been found.
There are many theories behind this tragedy.
From where these remains were found, there was evidence of burnt grain, which shows that people used to process the crop. Because of the crops, other insects must have come there, and frogs must have come there to eat them. Another theory is given behind this tragedy with frogs in prehistoric times. The frogs must have come to this area in the spring in search of breeding areas and would have fallen into the pit and trapped. It is also being said that the severe cold may have killed these frogs.
There is also a theory that this may have happened due to some frog disease. In the UK in the 1980s, ranavirus decimated the frog population. Frogs were so affected by this virus that the Frog Mortality Project started monitoring and reporting the disease. Ranaviruses are viruses that affect large numbers of certain fish and reptiles (Amphibians).
Scientists are finding out.
Vicki Evens says this is a surprising discovery, which we are still trying to understand. There are many different reasons why frog remains can be together. We will also know this in the coming time. But we still don’t understand why it was so.
Not only were frog bones found at the site, but artefacts and human and animal remains were found. The samples are still being worked on. I hope this mystery gets solved soon.
