First direct evidence of milk consumption

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Sophy Charlton / Dorset County Museum

Scientists have discovered the first direct evidence of milk consumption in humans.

The team has identified milk proteins buried in plaque on the teeth of prehistoric farmers in Britain.

It turns out that humans were consuming dairy products 6,000 years ago when they were lactose intolerant.

This could suggest that they have processed raw milk into cheese, yogurt or some other fermented product.

This would have reduced its lactose content, making it more palatable.

The team members scraped plaque samples from the teeth, separated the various components and analyzed them using mass spectrometry.

They detected a milk protein called beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) in the tartar of seven individuals spanning early to early Neolithic periods.

"Proteomic analysis of computation is a fairly recent technique, but a few studies have been done before, but usually focused on historical archeological materials rather than prehistoric materials," co-authored Dr. Sophy Charlton of the Department. Archeology of the University of Toronto. York, told BBC News.

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York University

Lactose intolerance stems from the inability to digest lactose sugar contained in milk beyond childhood. This means that eating milk-based foods can cause uncomfortable symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and nausea. However, many modern Europeans have a genetic mutation that allows them to continue to consume milk at adulthood.

This mutation affects a portion of the DNA controlling the activity of the lactase gene – an enzyme that breaks down lactose sugar. However, previous studies on the genetics of Neolithic Europeans showed that they lacked this mutation.

Dr. Charlton stated that it was possible that these Stone Age people are limited to small amounts of milk. "If you are lactose intolerant and you consume very, very small amounts of milk, it does not make you sick, you can get away with it," she said.

But Dr. Charlton added, "The alternative option, which I think is perhaps a little more plausible, is that they process the milk in such a way that it removes a certain amount of lactose. if you turn it into cheese, fermented dairy, or yogurt, it then lowers the lactose content so that you can more easily digest it.

"This idea fits well enough with other archaeological evidence for the period during which we find milk fat in many Neolithic pottery, both in the UK and in the rest of Europe."

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Science Photo Library

In addition, some of the milk residues found in these jars appear to have been heated, which would be necessary to turn raw milk into cheese or some other product.

The human remains tested in this study come from three Neolithic sites: Hambledon Hill in Dorset, Hazleton North in Gloucestershire and Banbury Lane in Northamptonshire.

More than a quarter of the Hambledon Hill pottery fragments contained milk lipids, suggesting that dairy products were very important to people living on this site. Other Neolithic sites show traces of herds of animals consistent with those used for milk production.

Genetic studies carried out on ancient populations from all over Eurasia show that the persistence of lactase has become commonplace only very recently, despite the consumption of dairy products in the Neolithic. The mutation began to appear in the bronze age, but even then, it was only present in 5 to 10% of Europeans.

The Neolithic Age in Britain lasted between 6,000 and 4,400 years ago and saw the introduction of agriculture, including the use of domestic animals such as cows, sheep, pigs and goats.

The study was published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

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