Latitudinal gradient in dairy production with the introduction of farming in Atlantic Europe

Miriam Cubas (), Alexandre Lucquin, Harry K. Robson, André Carlo Colonese, Pablo Arias, Bruno Aubry, Cyrille Billard, Denis Jan, Mariana Diniz, Ricardo Fernandes, Ramón Fábregas Valcarce, Cécile Germain-Vallée, Laurent Juhel, Arturo Lombera-Hermida, Cyril Marcigny, Sylvain Mazet, Grégor Marchand, César Neves, Roberto Ontañón-Peredo, Xose Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez, Teresa Simões, João Zilhão and Oliver E. Craig
Additional contact information
Miriam Cubas: University of York
Alexandre Lucquin: University of York
Harry K. Robson: University of York
André Carlo Colonese: University of York
Pablo Arias: Universidad de Cantabria-Gobierno de Cantabria
Bruno Aubry: INRAP Centre Archéologique du Grand Quevilly
Cyrille Billard: DRAC du Département Normandie Service Régional de l’Archéologie
Denis Jan: Service Archéologie du Conseil Départemental du Calvados
Mariana Diniz: Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa -UNIARQ- Alameda da Universidade
Ricardo Fernandes: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Ramón Fábregas Valcarce: University of Santiago de Compostela
Cécile Germain-Vallée: Service Archéologie du Conseil Départemental du Calvados
Laurent Juhel: Centre Archéologique de Cesson-Sévigné
Arturo Lombera-Hermida: University of Santiago de Compostela
Cyril Marcigny: Centre Archéologique de Bourguébus
Sylvain Mazet: INRAP Centre Archéologique du Grand Quevilly
Grégor Marchand: Centre de Recherche en Archéologie Archéosciences Histoire, UMR 6566 CNRS - CReAAH
César Neves: Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa -UNIARQ- Alameda da Universidade
Roberto Ontañón-Peredo: Museo de Prehistoria y Arqueología de Cantabria y Cuevas Prehistóricas de Cantabria-Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria
Xose Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez: IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social
Teresa Simões: Museu Arqueológico de São Miguel de Odrinhas. Av. Prof. Dr. D. Fernando de Almeida, São Miguel de Odrinhas
João Zilhão: Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa -UNIARQ- Alameda da Universidade
Oliver E. Craig: University of York

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The introduction of farming had far-reaching impacts on health, social structure and demography. Although the spread of domesticated plants and animals has been extensively tracked, it is unclear how these nascent economies developed within different environmental and cultural settings. Using molecular and isotopic analysis of lipids from pottery, here we investigate the foods prepared by the earliest farming communities of the European Atlantic seaboard. Surprisingly, we find an absence of aquatic foods, including in ceramics from coastal sites, except in the Western Baltic where this tradition continued from indigenous ceramic using hunter-gatherer-fishers. The frequency of dairy products in pottery increased as farming was progressively introduced along a northerly latitudinal gradient. This finding implies that early farming communities needed time to adapt their economic practices before expanding into more northerly areas. Latitudinal differences in the scale of dairy production might also have influenced the evolution of adult lactase persistence across Europe.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15907-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-15907-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15907-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().