William Atkins
Friday, 15 August 2008 03:37
Science -
Biology
Page 2 of 3
Much of the milk fat showed up in pots from the Sea of Marmara region. (The Sea of Marmara connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.)
The pots dated back to 6500 B.C. The researchers stated that ancient animal bones also showed that these Stone Age people kept cattle.
Evershed stated,
"It's the earliest direct evidence for milk use anywhere.” [National Geographic News: “
Stone Age Milk Use Began 2,000 Years Earlier”]
He added,
"Pots become a very convenient medium for processing milk [into butter, yogurt, or cheese].”
The research team assumed that the early humans of that time did not actually drink milk because they lacked the enzymes to digest animal milk in its raw form. In other words, they were
“lactose intolerant”—using a term common today.
Instead, these early farmers most likely stored milk in the form of butter, yogurt, or cheese (as mentioned earlier), which the body would be able to digest because the processing of milk into these post-products breaks down the lactose into a human-friendly form.
The National Geographic article states,
“… dairy production would have been a key driver in human civilization: It provided a reliable, year-round source of nourishment and allowed a key staple to be produced on a large scale. In lactose-tolerant central and northern Europe, dairy farming became "the basis of our culture” …. Dairy products gave lactose-tolerant people ... a major advantage over fellow Europeans. Without milk everything would have been different. Thirty to 40 per cent of the middle to northern European gene pool would have been different, different people would have taken over the continent, and so on."
Continued on page three.
