Earliest date for milk use in the Near East and southeastern Europe linked to cattle herding

Richard P. Evershed (), Sebastian Payne, Andrew G. Sherratt, Mark S. Copley, Jennifer Coolidge, Duska Urem-Kotsu, Kostas Kotsakis, Mehmet Özdoğan, Aslý E. Özdoğan, Olivier Nieuwenhuyse, Peter M. M. G. Akkermans, Douglass Bailey, Radian-Romus Andeescu, Stuart Campbell, Shahina Farid, Ian Hodder, Nurcan Yalman, Mihriban Özbaşaran, Erhan Bıçakcı, Yossef Garfinkel, Thomas Levy and Margie M. Burton
Additional contact information
Richard P. Evershed: Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Sebastian Payne: English Heritage, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138–142 Holborn, London EC1N 2ST, UK
Andrew G. Sherratt: University of Sheffield
Mark S. Copley: Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Jennifer Coolidge: Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK
Duska Urem-Kotsu: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Kostas Kotsakis: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Mehmet Özdoğan: Istanbul University
Aslý E. Özdoğan: Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi
Olivier Nieuwenhuyse: Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities and Leiden University, PO Box 1114, 2301 EC Leiden, The Netherlands
Peter M. M. G. Akkermans: Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities and Leiden University, PO Box 1114, 2301 EC Leiden, The Netherlands
Douglass Bailey: School of History and Archaeology, Humanities Building, University of Cardiff, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK
Radian-Romus Andeescu: Romanian National Museum of History, Calea Vitoriei, nr. 12, Sect. 3, cod poştal 030026, Bucureşti, Romania
Stuart Campbell: School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Shahina Farid: Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
Ian Hodder: Archaeology Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
Nurcan Yalman: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mihriban Özbaşaran: Istanbul University
Erhan Bıçakcı: Istanbul University
Yossef Garfinkel: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Thomas Levy: University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0532, USA
Margie M. Burton: University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0532, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 455, issue 7212, 528-531

Abstract: Early farming: dairy made The use of the 'secondary' products of domesticated animals — the milk, wool and traction power that can be had without having to kill the animals — was an important advance in the development of farming. It's not clear, though, whether these products were exploited soon after animals were first farmed to be eaten, or whether as some experts believe, it took another few thousand years to emerge. Cattle, sheep and goats were farmed by the eighth millennium BC. Until now the first clear evidence for milk use was the late fifth millennium. Now an analysis of organic residues from more than 2,200 pottery vessels excavated from archaeological sites across the Near East and the Balkans, puts the first known use of milking back to the seventh millennium, with milking being of particular significance in what is now north-west Turkey where the environmental conditions were probably particularly favourable to cattle.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07180

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