Exploring the Easter E.g. - Shifting Baselines and Changing Perceptions of Cultural and Biological "Aliens"

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Very little of what we see around us in Britain today can be classed as 'native'. When the sea cut off the island from the rest of the continent (c. 8,000 years ago) the flora, fauna and human population were very different. Over millennia, Britain's ecology and culture have been transformed. Change has been the only constant, with population movements being responsible for the island's unique bio-cultural heritage. Ancient migrations of people, ideas and animals are widely celebrated and incorporated into expressions of British cultural identity. However, the more recent the migrations, the more negative the attitudes towards them. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in discussions about 'native' versus 'alien' status, be it in relation to animals, people, or religious ideologies. In general, native is perceived as positive and 'natural', whereas the term 'alien' is attached negatively to cultural and environmental problems. These perceptions often translate into societal attitudes and policy making, in particular that relating to biodiversity, even though they may result from "shifting baselines". "Shifting baseline" refers to the phenomenon whereby people consider the socio-environmental circumstances of their childhood to be 'natural' and morally absolute. In the absence of deeper historical and archaeological understanding, these nostalgic ideals are adopted blindly (and often erroneously) as the foundation for decision-making both at a personal level and more broadly in science and policy. This project sets out to investigate the role of shifting baselines and their impact on the value-judgements placed on 'native' and 'alien' animals, people and ideologies through the high-profile and publicly engaging example of Easter.Easter is the most important event in the Christian calendar, yet astonishingly little is known about when it first appeared in Britain, the origins of its component customs - e.g. the gifting of eggs purportedly delivered by the Easter 'bunny' - or how they coalesced to form current practices. Easter and its associated animals - namely the brown hare, rabbit and chicken - are all 'alien' to Britain. However, they are viewed positively because they arrived in the long-forgotten past. Easter is therefore an excellent example to highlight the impact of shifting baselines and challenge negative attitudes to cultural and biological 'aliens'. Our team will achieve this by integrating evidence from anthropology, (zoo)archaeology, (art) history, evolutionary biology, law, historical linguistics, natural history and religious studies to answer the following questions:1. Where and when did modern Easter traditions first begin, when did they arrive in Britain, and how closely correlated are the arrival of religious traditions and the brown hare? 2. What were the bio-cultural, political and religious mechanisms by which:-The derivatives of Latin Pascha and Germanic forms of Easter spread and interacted with each other in Christian communities in early medieval Europe?- The rabbit diffused across Europe and replaced the hare as the main Easter animal in later British traditions?3. Can ancient interactions between the native mountain hare, the introduced brown hare and the rabbit be reconstructed to provide a deeper-time perspective on the impact of 'alien species'?4. How can the filling of knowledge gaps about human-animal bio-cultural history transform 'native' versus 'alien' discourse at both a societal level and within wildlife management policy?Addressing these questions will not only close knowledge gaps about Britain's most important religious (but also secular) festival but also those pertaining to iconic animal species. Together these datasets will be workshopped to contextualize and challenge modern cultural attitudes to society, religious beliefs and the natural world. This will be achieved through an exciting and innovative outreach and engagement programme.