Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium bc in northern Europe

Abstract

The introduction of dairying was a critical step in early agriculture, with milk products being rapidly adopted as a major component of the diets of prehistoric farmers and pottery-using late hunter-gatherers. The processing of milk, particularly the production of cheese, would have been a critical development because it not only allowed the preservation of milk products in a non-perishable and transportable form, but also it made milk a more digestible commodity for early prehistoric farmers. The finding of abundant milk residues in pottery vessels from seventh millennium sites from north-western Anatolia provided the earliest evidence of milk processing, although the exact practice could not be explicitly defined. Notably, the discovery of potsherds pierced with small holes appear at early Neolithic sites in temperate Europe in the sixth millennium BC and have been interpreted typologically as 'cheese-strainers', although a direct association with milk processing has not yet been demonstrated. Organic residues preserved in pottery vessels have provided direct evidence for early milk use in the Neolithic period in the Near East and south-eastern Europe, north Africa, Denmark and the British Isles, based on the δ(13)C and Δ(13)C values of the major fatty acids in milk. Here we apply the same approach to investigate the function of sieves/strainer vessels, providing direct chemical evidence for their use in milk processing. The presence of abundant milk fat in these specialized vessels, comparable in form to modern cheese strainers, provides compelling evidence for the vessels having being used to separate fat-rich milk curds from the lactose-containing whey. This new evidence emphasizes the importance of pottery vessels in processing dairy products, particularly in the manufacture of reduced-lactose milk products among lactose-intolerant prehistoric farming communities.

On the History of Cattle Genetic Resources

“…Isotope analyses of traces of bovine dairy fat products in ceramic remains indicate the milking of cattle by European farmers in 7500 BP in southeast [22] and northern [61] Europe and in 6000 BP in Great Britain [62]. This is confirmed by 15 N/ 14 N ratios in calf teeth from ancient French calves as evidence of early weaning [63].…”

Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers

“…2b). Beeswax was also detected in late sixth millennium LBK sites of Ludwinowo 7 and Wolica Nowa, Poland 17 . In France, the exploitation of bee products is evident during the second half of the fifth millennium at Chasséen sites (Font Juvénal, Chassey le Camp and Bercy 10 ) and fourth millennium at the Lake Village sites of Clairvaux les Lacs (3900 to 3700 bc) and Chalain 3 (ref.…”

“…Indeed, beeswax has been regularly detected in later archaeological and historic periods in lipid extracts from the fabric of unglazed pottery vessels 11 where it is assumed to be a residue of honey use in cooking, or from the use of vessels for processing wax combs [12][13][14] , with beeswax being absorbed through repeated contacts. Beeswax has also been detected as a fuel in lamps and in larger vessels used as proto beehives, for example Roman Greece (second century bc to fourth century ad) 15,16 and applied as a post firing treatment to waterproof vessels 17 .…”

Archaeology: The milk revolution

“…Roffet-Salque, a geochemist at the University of Bristol, UK, found signatures of abundant milk fats -evidence that the early farmers had used the pottery as sieves to separate fatty milk solids from liquid whey. That makes the Polish relics the oldest known evidence of cheese-making in the world 1 .…”