Bone of Extinct Great Auk Unearthed at Medieval Site

News May 12, 2014

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(Olaus Wormius, Public Domain)

EAST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND—A bone from a Great Auk has been unearthed at the Scottish Seabird Centre, along with bones of butchered seals, fish, and other seabirds. The bone from the flightless Great Auk has been dated to the fifth to seventh centuries, when it was a favored food source because it was easy to catch. “The discovery of the Great Auk bone at Kirk Ness is an illuminating find, as we seek to understand and document the importance of the area in the history of wildlife and human habitation in the Middle Ages,” archaeologist Tom Addyman told BBC News. The Great Auk, whose range once extended from the northeastern United States across the Atlantic to Britain, France, and northern Spain, was extinct by the middle of the nineteenth century. 

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