Ancient butcher unearthed in Devon and it could rewrite history of Roman rule

Even under Roman rule, ancient Britons had a healthy appetite for roast beef, a new find has shown - and it might also show that the Roman Empire stretched further than thought.

An excavation at Ipplepen by University of Exeter researchers found evidence of a Roman butcher shop which slaughtered and sold beef in Devon 1,700 years ago.

A burial pit was found filled with heads and feet from cows, suggesting they were reared locally and slaughtered for meat productions, the Guardian reported.

Professor Stephen Rippon, from the University of Exeter said the find suggested that the cattle weren't slaughtered and eaten by local peasants.

Professor Rippon told The Guardian, "They would have boiled down the bits that have been thrown away and made something like brawn out of them.

"The normal practice would have been to keep the cattle into old age, pulling ploughs and so on.

"Our cattle were one and a half to two years old – which fits in with the idea of this being professional beef production.

"We think they were preparing good meat joints and perhaps storing them in barrels of salted water and taking them somewhere else.

"This is the first time we have found evidence of commercial farming and butchery in the south-west of Britain.

"They would have been taken to market somewhere along the major Roman road we have found here."

- This article first appeared on Yahoo