Groovy Neolithic Pizza

The pizza turned out great and we drank the barley bere ale from these reproductions of grooved ware beakers.

Here’s Debbie with the clay they have dug out.

[original post] Groovy Neolithic Pizza. Late Neolithic, to be exact. Today I am making pizza for a team of archeologists and historical potters (not hysterical) who are reconstructing an ancient kiln and making grooved ware in the way of the ancients. They are exploring the idea that the designs on grooved ware pottery from the late Neolithic period (3200 – 2200 BC) were depictions of real life or animals .. or something. Some say the designs are merely ornamental but this group says otherwise. My wife Debbie is with them, as a potter. She is learning the art of pottery from Andrew Appleby, the “Harray Potter” and is now a part of these archeological quests. You can read more about neolithic pottery and the Fire and Clay project here.

My part? Just husband and a cook. I am bringing over pizza today which doesn’t have a lot of stone age characteristics about it but I think the wild garlic I am using goes back to that time period. And some would say that it TASTES LIKE IT WAS MADE BACK THEN which is probably half true. Unfortunately, the kiln they are making wont be fired up until June – it would have been cool to make the pizzas in it.

I am, however, bringing over a few bottles of beer I made from the ancient bere barley that probably would have been used in beer making in Orkney in that period, although without the hops which are a recent import from England. One of the guys here is an expert in neolithic beer making methods so he will probably put me straight on that. Hope he appreciates my brew.