TY - JOUR
T1 - Regional asynchronicity in dairy production and processing in early farming communities of the northern Mediterranean
AU - Spiteri, Cynthianne Debono
AU - Gillis, Rosalind E.
AU - Roffet-Salque, Mélanie
AU - Navarro, Laura Castells
AU - Guilaine, Jean
AU - Manen, Claire
AU - Muntoni, Italo M.
AU - Segui, Maria Saña
AU - Urem-Kotsou, Dushka
AU - Whelton, Helen L.
AU - Craig, Oliver E.
AU - Vigne, Jean Denis
AU - Evershed, Richard P.
PY - 2016/11/29
Y1 - 2016/11/29
N2 - © 2016, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. In the absence of any direct evidence, the relative importance of meat and dairy productions to Neolithic prehistoric Mediterranean communities has been extensively debated. Here, we combine lipid residue analysis of ceramic vessels with osteo-archaeological age-at-death analysis from 82 northern Mediterranean and Near Eastern sites dating from the seventh to fifth millennia BC to address this question. The findings show variable intensities in dairy and nondairy activities in the Mediterranean region with the slaughter profiles of domesticated ruminants mirroring the results of the organic residue analyses. The finding of milk residues in very early Neolithic pottery (seventh millennium BC) from both the east and west of the region contrasts with much lower intensities in sites of northern Greece, where pig bones are present in higher frequencies compared with other locations. In this region, the slaughter profiles of all domesticated ruminants suggest meat production predominated. Overall, it appears that milk or the by-products of milk was an important foodstuff, which may have contributed significantly to the spread of these cultural groups by providing a nourishing and sustainable product for early farming communities.
AB - © 2016, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. In the absence of any direct evidence, the relative importance of meat and dairy productions to Neolithic prehistoric Mediterranean communities has been extensively debated. Here, we combine lipid residue analysis of ceramic vessels with osteo-archaeological age-at-death analysis from 82 northern Mediterranean and Near Eastern sites dating from the seventh to fifth millennia BC to address this question. The findings show variable intensities in dairy and nondairy activities in the Mediterranean region with the slaughter profiles of domesticated ruminants mirroring the results of the organic residue analyses. The finding of milk residues in very early Neolithic pottery (seventh millennium BC) from both the east and west of the region contrasts with much lower intensities in sites of northern Greece, where pig bones are present in higher frequencies compared with other locations. In this region, the slaughter profiles of all domesticated ruminants suggest meat production predominated. Overall, it appears that milk or the by-products of milk was an important foodstuff, which may have contributed significantly to the spread of these cultural groups by providing a nourishing and sustainable product for early farming communities.
KW - Archaeology
KW - Archaeozoology
KW - Lipid residue analyses
KW - Milk
KW - Neolithic
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1607810113
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1607810113
M3 - Article
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 113
SP - 13594
EP - 13599
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 48
ER -