[ad_1]
A group of US-based scientists has discovered the oldest evidence of cheese in the Mediterranean, a discovery that helps to better understand the food choices and lives of the primitive Neolithic populations living in the region.
The traces of cheese were found during an expedition to two ancient villages called Pokrovnik and Danilo Bitinj, on the Dalmatian coast, east of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia.
While the sites hosted the first agricultural populations between 6000 BC. J. – C. and 4800 BC. JC, the team, made up of scientists from the Rochester Institute of Technology Institute and Pennsylvania State University, decided to explore the region and
The work was successful and the team had the opportunity to analyze several shards or remains of old pots, plates or other ceramic objects. Fortunately, some of these broken pieces contained traces of fatty acids of the time.
By analyzing stable carbon isotopes of conserved fatty acids, the group came to the conclusion that it was the first known evidence of cheese produced in the Mediterranean.
According to the researchers, the traces found in the last study date back to 5200 BC, which means that the cheese was available more than 7000 years ago. This, as they described, is more than 2000 years older than the evidence previously seen in the region.
However, compared to data collected in European regions, Croatian cheese is still quite young. In fact, the first signs of cheese and milk in Europe were linked to the spread of agriculture, which began well before about 9,000 years ago.
That said, it should be noted that cheese was not the only discovery of both sites. The villages had shards of various pottery products and a careful examination of these pieces revealed traces of old milk, meat and fish from the same period (6000 BC to 4800 BC).
Noting these characteristics, the researchers concluded that the first inhabitants – mostly farmers – in the area probably used different types of pottery products to prepare different foods.
For example, the cheese residue was commonly found on rhyta and sieve remains, indicating that the vessels were functionally more suitable for the fermentation process required for cheese production.
According to the researchers, fermented milk products would have been an essential source of nutrition for all ages of the agricultural population. Low in lactose and easily storable, it would have reduced infant mortality and helped the first farming communities spread to northern and central Europe.
The study titled "The d13C values specific to fatty acids reveal the oldest production of Mediterranean cheese 7,200 years ago", was published on September 5 in the journal PLOS One.
[ad_2]
Source link
