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.

Área de Prehistoria Universitat Rovira i Virgili Avinguda de Catalunya 35 E 43002 Tarragona Spain

BioArCh Department of Archaeology University of York Wentworth Way Heslington York YO10 5DD UK

Centre de Recherche en Archéologie Archéosciences Histoire UMR 6566 CNRS CReAAH Campus Beaulieu Bât 24 25 263 avenue du Général Leclerc CS 74 205 35042 RENNES Cedex France

Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa UNIARQ Alameda da Universidade 1600 214 Lisbon Portugal

Departamento de Historia Universidad de Oviedo C Amparo Pedregal s n E 33011 Oviedo Spain

Department of Archaeology Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History 07745 Jena Germany

Department of Prehistory Edifici B Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Carrer de la Fortuna Bellaterra E 08193 Barcelona Spain

DRAC du Département Normandie Service Régional de l'Archéologie 13 bis rue Saint Ouen 14052 CAEN cedex 4 France

Facultad de Geografía e Historia University of Santiago de Compostela Praza Universidade 1 E 15782 Santiago de Compostela Spain

Faculty of Arts Masaryk University Arne Nováka 1 602 00 Brno střed Czech Republic

ICREA Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies Passeig Lluís Companys 23 E 08010 Barcelona Spain

INRAP Centre Archéologique de Bourguébus Boulevard de l'Europe 14540 Bourguébus France

INRAP Centre Archéologique de Cesson Sévigné 37 rue du Bignon CS 67737 35577 Cesson Sévigné cedex France

INRAP Centre Archéologique du Grand Quevilly 30 boulevard de Verdun 76120 Le Grand Quevilly France

Institute of Environmental Science and Technology Edifici Z Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Carrer de les columns Bellaterra E 08193 Barcelona Spain

Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria Universidad de Cantabria Gobierno de Cantabria Avd de los Castros s n E 39005 Santander Spain

IPHES Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social C Marcel lí Domingo s n Campus Sescelades URV E 43007 Tarragona Spain

Museo de Prehistoria y Arqueología de Cantabria y Cuevas Prehistóricas de Cantabria Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria Ruiz de Alda 19 E 39009 Santander Spain

Museu Arqueológico de São Miguel de Odrinhas Av Prof Dr D Fernando de Almeida São Miguel de Odrinhas São João das Lampas 2705 739 Sintra Portugal

School of Archaeology University of Oxford 1 South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3TG UK

SERP Departament d'Història i Arqueologia Facultat de Geografia i Història Universitat de Barcelona c Montalegre 6 E 08001 Barcelona Spain

Service Archéologie du Conseil Départemental du Calvados 36 rue Fred Scamaroni 14000 Caen France

Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi Zorroagagaina 11 E 20014 Donostia San Sebastian Spain

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