Oldest grill I've seen

Gore · Jul 28, 2015

This is a picture of a grill of Celtic origin found in central Spain. It dates to the 4th-5th century BC, making it some 2500 or so years old. It is in shockingly good shape. It is currently in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. Figured someone might be interested.

cowgirl · Jul 28, 2015

Interesting Gore, thanks for posting!

Wonder what folks 1,000 years from now will think my tractor rim was used for.

Shagdog · Jul 28, 2015

In 2500 years my Shirley will be in much better shape than that...

mike-cleveland · Jul 28, 2015

So the Celts vacationed in Spain?

Fwismoker · Jul 28, 2015

I just think it's amazing how very little grills and grilling tools have changed in the last two thousand five hundred years!

Gore · Jul 28, 2015

cowgirl said:
Interesting Gore, thanks for posting!

Wonder what folks 1,000 years from now will think my tractor rim was used for.

That is hilarious to think about. I took some archaeology courses in college and they were a lot of fun. I remember our teacher discussing cave art and the religious significance, etc. I remember asking how they knew it just wasn't a bunch of kids painting on the walls, given the task by a mom who wanted to get them out of her hair. Recently, they analyzed cave art in one of the French caves and found that it was just a bunch of children and they could apparently assign the art to different kids, ranging from 3-7 years and it is believed the most prolific was a 5-year-old girl.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/30/world/europe/prehistoric-cave-art/

It's anyone's guess how they'll interpret your tractor rim.

gtr · Jul 28, 2015

That one looks to have better airflow than the one I saw in Athens, Greece. This may be a trivet or something like that though. They're about the same age.

I wonder how they said "you're doing it wrong" in Greek or Latin? :noidea:

edit - forgive my ignorance, and laziness to look it up - what were they speaking in Spain in those days?

Gore · Jul 28, 2015

mike-cleveland said:
So the Celts vacationed in Spain?

The Celts vacationed in Spain for many centuries. They brought with them their love of cured meats especially. The bagpipe remains a very common instrument played in northern Spain. It is slightly smaller than its Scottish cousin and to my ears has a better sound. You can hear them played in most festivals in the north and they also can be heard in bars. Rather than a lone bag-piper that I often heard in Scotland, usually the bands include several playing with drums.

Fwismoker said:
I just think it's amazing how very little grills and grilling tools have changed in the last two thousand five hundred years!

My thoughts exactly! For me though, the grates seem to wear out after about 3-5 years. And this has somehow survived.

cowgirl · Jul 28, 2015

Gore said:
That is hilarious to think about. I took some archaeology courses in college and they were a lot of fun. I remember our teacher discussing cave art and the religious significance, etc. I remember asking how they knew it just wasn't a bunch of kids painting on the walls, given the task by a mom who wanted to get them out of her hair. Recently, they analyzed cave art in one of the French caves and found that it was just a bunch of children and they could apparently assign the art to different kids, ranging from 3-7 years and it is believed the most prolific was a 5-year-old girl.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/30/world/europe/prehistoric-cave-art/

It's anyone's guess how they'll interpret your tractor rim.

lol I've come across a few "arrow head classroom rejects" while out roaming the land. It's fun to speculate about what went on. :-D

cowgirl · Jul 28, 2015

gtr said:
That one looks to have better airflow than the one I saw in Athens, Greece. This may be a trivet or something like that though. They're about the same age.

I wonder how they said "you're doing it wrong" in Greek or Latin? :noidea:

edit - forgive my ignorance, and laziness to look it up - what were they speaking in Spain in those days?

That looks a lot like a boot scraper I have. :becky:
Very cool too Greg!! :thumb:

Decoy205 · Jul 28, 2015

Take a good look there are some of the first meat probes haha. Thanks for posting that is cool!

Gore · Jul 28, 2015

gtr said:
That one looks to have better airflow than the one I saw in Athens, Greece. This may be a trivet or something like that though. They're about the same age.

I wonder how they said "you're doing it wrong" in Greek or Latin? :noidea:

Thanks Greg, for posting this. That is absolutely beautiful. The Greeks did some fabulous metal-work. I believe one of the largest BBQs recorded was in the Greek colony of Siracusa on Sicily where they roasted some 500 steers at one time:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116814

All I saw there was marble slabs, no metal grates.

Bob C Cue · Jul 28, 2015

I read somewhere that they also found a Maverick thermometer with a Roman numeral readout nearby.

pmad · Jul 28, 2015

Gore said:
The Celts vacationed in Spain for many centuries. They brought with them their love of cured meats especially. The bagpipe remains a very common instrument played in northern Spain. It is slightly smaller than its Scottish cousin and to my ears has a better sound. You can hear them played in most festivals in the north and they also can be heard in bars. Rather than a lone bag-piper that I often heard in Scotland, usually the bands include several playing with drums.

It's where the "Black Irish" come from.
I'd love to know if they were still cooking whole or butchering

Gore · Jul 28, 2015

pmad said:
It's where the "Black Irish" come from.
I'd love to know if they were still cooking whole or butchering

Since that grate was only a bit over a foot on a side, they must have been butchering (or else they were raising pygmy pigs). However, the Celts had a very strong curing tradition and the pig was butchered and then cured. The front and rear legs were cured separately. The interior was turned into sausage (chorizo) and cured separately. This is still done in the traditional way in small villages, although the practice is dying. I stayed with a friend in a village and watched his 95-year-old father smoke home-made chorizo in a make-shift BBQ pit. Their kitchen has hooks on the ceiling and walls that I asked about. They used to string ropes across them to dry hang the meats to dry. I have no idea when this was last done, as they younger family members had no recollection of them being used. His father passed away a few years back. I expect this was an ancient Celtic practice, since the Celts inhabited this region and they brought the knowledge of curing and smoking meats with them (to our knowledge), and I would expect they are descendants of the Celts that inhabited the interior of Spain. Their village, although only a hundred or so people dates back well over a thousand years in recorded history.

Stingerhook · Jul 28, 2015

So did they let you take it out back and give it a try? Thanks for the post.

rookiedad · Jul 28, 2015

is it a weber?

Fwismoker · Jul 28, 2015

Bob C Cue said:
I read somewhere that they also found a Maverick thermometer with a Roman numeral readout nearby.

Bob sometimes I wonder how your wife, friends and acquaintances put up with your humor. :laugh: What about Bob

Harbormaster · Jul 28, 2015

If you squint just right when you look at that first pic, you'll see it bears a striking resemblance to a Weber Go Anywhere.

Just sayin.

Bob C Cue · Jul 28, 2015

Fwismoker said:
Bob sometimes I wonder how your wife, friends and acquaintances put up with your humor. :laugh: What about Bob

They don't.

Oldest grill I've seen

Phizzy

somebody shut me the fark up.

Quintessential Chatty Farker

is one Smokin' Farker

somebody shut me the fark up.

Phizzy

somebody shut me the fark up.

Phizzy

somebody shut me the fark up.

somebody shut me the fark up.

Babbling Farker

Phizzy

Quintessential Chatty Farker

is Blowin Smoke!

Phizzy

somebody shut me the fark up.

is Blowin Smoke!

somebody shut me the fark up.

somebody shut me the fark up.

Quintessential Chatty Farker

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