During the sixth millennium BCE, the first farmers of Central Europe rapidly expanded across a varied mosaic of forested environments. Such environments would have offered important sources of mineral-rich animal feed and shelter, prompting the question: to what extent did early farmers exploit forests to raise their herds? Here, to resolve this, we have assembled multi-regional datasets, comprising bulk and compound-specific stable isotope values from zooarchaeological remains and pottery, and conducted cross-correlation analyses within a palaeo-environmental framework. Our findings reveal a diversity of pasturing strategies for cattle employed by early farmers, with a notable emphasis on intensive utilization of forests for grazing and seasonal foddering in some regions. This experimentation with forest-based animal feeds by early farmers would have enhanced animal fertility and milk yields for human consumption, concurrently contributing to the expansion of prehistoric farming settlements and the transformation of forest ecosystems. Our study emphasizes the intricate relationship that existed between early farmers and forested landscapes, shedding light on the adaptive dynamics that shaped humans, animals and environments in the past.

Archaeological Heritage Office Saxony Dresden Germany

Archéozoologie Archéobotanique Sociétés Pratiques et Environnement CNRS Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris France

CEA CNRS UVSQ Laboratoire de Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Université Paris Saclay Gif sur Yvette France

CNRS ARCHIMEDE University of Strasbourg Strasbourg France

Comenius University Archaeological Institute Slovak Academy of Sciences Nitra Slovakia

Department of Archaeology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria

Department of Dairy Fat and Cosmetics University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Prague Czech Republic

Department of History Palacký University Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Radiation Dosimetry Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Faculty of Archaeology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań Poland

Faculty of Archaeology Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands

Herman Ottó Museum Miskolc Hungary

Hungarian National Museum National Institute of Archaeology Budapest Hungary

ICArEHB Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais Universidade do Algarve Faro Portugal

Independent researcher Milan Italy

Independent researcher Vienna Austria

Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology Kiel University Kiel Germany

Institute of Archaeological Sciences Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary

Institute of Archaeology and Museology Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Archaeology HUN REN Research Centre for the Humanities Centre of Excellence of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary

Institute of Archaeology Maria Curie Skłodowska University Lublin Poland

Institute of Archeology University of Gdańsk Gdańsk Poland

István Dobó Castle Museum Eger Hungary

Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Germany

LVR State Service for Archaeological Heritage Bonn Germany

National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne Paris France

Organic Geochemistry Unit School of Chemistry University of Bristol Bristol UK

School of Engineering and Applied Science Princeton University Princeton USA

Trajectoires Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne Paris France

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