Re: Re: Supplies, questions raised IMOG

From: Simon Miller <simonmiller60_at_...>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 11:53:41 +0200 (CEST)

Volterra is also a rocky outcrop; it is very steep sided (it took about 15 minutes to drive up the windy road to the top). I'm not a geologist but I'd guess that a lot of organic material would accumulate on the top of a flat-topped rock over time, as with Jane's pic of the block; grass and shrubs would be the natural state of vegetation.

My thinking is that a tribe that highly values cattle, would want it's place of refuge in a crisis to be able to support the cattle for a moderate period of time; I guess the Iron Age hill forts in the UK, with their large grassy enclosures, may have performed such a function.

Presumably the grazing would only last weeks or months and the cattle would be eaten early on in the siege; then later any horses.

Simon

Oliver said...
>That's a good point. However Whitewall is a rock outcropping so any
crops/pasture on the tor itself would have to have been carved out of the rock itself so any pasturage would be limited. The Hidden Stables though can store quite a bit of fodder so despite its unnaturalness as a home for cattle you could keep quite a herd in there. Though it may suffer from disease or stress.

Oliver

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