Proof of Roman rabbit dinner found

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of what they believe is one of Britain's first rabbits, brought in for food by the Romans 2,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of what they believe is one of Britain's first rabbits, brought in for food by the Romans 2,000 years ago.

The six leg bones are believed to date from Roman colonisation, proving for the first time that the rodents were imported to eat. The remains were among first-century Roman pottery fragments at the site of what is believed to be a Roman settlement's rubbish tip, in what is now a quarry in Lynford near Thetford, Norfolk.

The size of the bones indicates they may have been from small Spanish rabbits which the Romans bred.

Rabbits are thought to have died out when the Romans left, and were reintroduced by the Normans on their arrival in 1066.