| Christine | Farmer |

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I am still wondering whether or not my hedgehog made it through this very hard winter. I know that they generally don’t live very long lives, and that my hedgehog was probably at least two years old, but I am still hopeful of seeing him again. The place where his house is situated is in constant shade, and temperatures there haven’t yet been very high so far this year, but I know that other local people have seen hedgehogs already. I have had a look up the little tunnel leading to his nest a few times and it seems to me that the leaves have moved recently, but I can’t be certain, so today I put a fews pieces of straw across the entrance and I’ll look to see if they have moved tomorrow. I leave him a few raisins and some fresh water out every evening just in case, since hedgehogs are very thirsty as well as hungry when they wake up. The raisins don’t go to waste as the blackbirds soon eat them once morning comes. So, fingers crossed he made it and I’ll see him soon.

In the meantime, I have been reading about the chalk model of a hedgehog which was found some time ago in a child’s grave at Stonehenge. Reports with pictures can be found here and here. The grave has been dated to between 800 B.C. and 20 B.C, and the find has been cited as evidence that people were making toys for their children in these early times. However, I am reminded of the hedgehog models from earlier graves in Greece and elsewhere which do not seem to have been toys at all. They were created out of faience (scroll down for an example here), and pottery (example from the British Museum here), and in some cases formed into vessels which seem to have been used to contain libations or liquid offerings for the dead. The most well-known of these is the vessel from the cemetery at Chalandriani on the Cycladic island of Syros (see images of it here), dated to between 2700 B.C and 2200 B.C. I have had a ‘museum copy’ of this hedgehog for many years on my shelf (click on thumbnails for a closer look):

As you can see, there is a hole within the bowl that the hedgehog is holding, which would have allowed the hollow clay model to be used as a vessel, and I do not think this, or any of the Greek hedgehogs, could be considered to have been a toy. People have speculated on the exact function of these hedgehogs, and even whether the animal in some cases is not a bear. However, I think that this is clearly meant to be a hedgehog from the appearance of the painted pattern along its humped back; a means of representing hedgehog’s spines that can be seen in other representations of this animal in the links above. And the reason that depictions of hedgehogs were placed with the dead? Perhaps the simplest idea is true: that the hedgehog was known to hibernate for many months, appearing dead but re-emerging full of life, an obvious symbol of resurrection, and therefore a perfectly understandable effigy to place in a grave.

More information on British hedgehogs, including how to encourage them to your garden and what to do if you find an injured or sick hedgehog can be found on the website for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

Earlier posts about my hedgehog.

Latest news: Update: The hedgehog finally re-appeared on the evenings of 23rd and 24th April when he or she was seen eating a few raisins, and taking some water before heading off down the garden at speed. I did try to get a photograph through the catflap but it didn’t turn out very well and I am always wary of scaring him with the flash. So, unfortunately I have no pictures to show. I haven’t seen him again since then, and I assume he’s either changed his pattern or perhaps gone back to sleep or moved on. I will of course update with any further news. It is amazing to think that he was probably asleep all that time from early November to the end of April – almost half a year. I’m so happy that he made it through the long, hard winter!

Update: I saw him again during the hot weather at the end of May, and managed to get a few new pictures:

Just as a quick P.S., someone wrote to me recently to ask how I was getting on with my Epson printer. I have tried to reply a couple of times but my email has been returned undeliverable. If this is you, please write again perhaps with another email address? I will soon be updating my blog with reports on my printer and scanner, just to bring things up to date.

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