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.

• MeSH
• archeologie MeSH
• chov zvířat * dějiny   metody   MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lesy * MeSH
• skot MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• skot MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years1. Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions2,3. Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,000 years using around 7,000 pottery fat residues from more than 550 archaeological sites. European milk use was widespread from the Neolithic period onwards but varied spatially and temporally in intensity. Notably, LP selection varying with levels of prehistoric milk exploitation is no better at explaining LP allele frequency trajectories than uniform selection since the Neolithic period. In the UK Biobank4,5 cohort of 500,000 contemporary Europeans, LP genotype was only weakly associated with milk consumption and did not show consistent associations with improved fitness or health indicators. This suggests that other reasons for the beneficial effects of LP should be considered for its rapid frequency increase. We propose that lactase non-persistent individuals consumed milk when it became available but, under conditions of famine and/or increased pathogen exposure, this was disadvantageous, driving LP selection in prehistoric Europe. Comparison of model likelihoods indicates that population fluctuations, settlement density and wild animal exploitation-proxies for these drivers-provide better explanations of LP selection than the extent of milk exploitation. These findings offer new perspectives on prehistoric milk exploitation and LP evolution.

• MeSH
• archeologie * MeSH
• banky biologického materiálu MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• divoká zvířata MeSH
• frekvence genu MeSH
• genotyp MeSH
• hladomor statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• keramika dějiny   MeSH
• kohortové studie MeSH
• laktasa * genetika   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mlékárenství * dějiny   MeSH
• mléko * metabolismus   MeSH
• nemoc * MeSH
• populační genetika * MeSH
• selekce (genetika) * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa epidemiologie   etnologie   MeSH
• Spojené království MeSH
• Názvy látek
• laktasa * MeSH

Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but exactly when this capacity developed in domestic cattle is still unknown and the extent to which early farming communities controlled the seasonality of reproduction is debated. Seasonal or aseasonal calving would have shaped the socio-economic practices of ancient farming societies differently, structuring the agropastoral calendar and determining milk availability where dairying is attested. In this study, we reconstruct the calving pattern through the analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios of cattle tooth enamel from 18 sites across Europe, dating from the 6th mill. cal BC (Early Neolithic) in the Balkans to the 4th mill. cal BC (Middle Neolithic) in Western Europe. Seasonal calving prevailed in Europe between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC. These results suggest that cattle agropastoral systems in Neolithic Europe were strongly constrained by environmental factors, in particular forage resources. The ensuing fluctuations in milk availability would account for cheese-making, transforming a seasonal milk supply into a storable product.

• MeSH
• chov zvířat dějiny   MeSH
• dějiny středověku MeSH
• domestikace MeSH
• izotopové značení MeSH
• kyslík analýza   chemie   MeSH
• mlékárenství MeSH
• mléko metabolismus   MeSH
• roční období MeSH
• skot MeSH
• zuby chemie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny středověku MeSH
• skot MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Balkánský poloostrov MeSH
• Názvy látek
• kyslík MeSH

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.

• MeSH
• archeologie MeSH
• chov zvířat dějiny   MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• izotopy uhlíku MeSH
• keramika MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• lipidy chemie   MeSH
• mléčné výrobky analýza   MeSH
• mlékárenství dějiny   MeSH
• plynová chromatografie s hmotnostně spektrometrickou detekcí MeSH
• zemědělství dějiny   MeSH
• zeměpis MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH
• Názvy látek
• izotopy uhlíku MeSH
• lipidy MeSH