Ah, those crazy Europeans and all their love for cheese. But seriously, this implies domestication of animals 8000 years ago in Europe. That ties in with that earlier thread about early civilization.
Evidence for 6th millennium BC cheese
Nature (2012) doi:10.1038/nature11698
Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium bc in northern Europe
Mélanie Salque et al.
The introduction of dairying was a critical step in early agriculture, with milk products being rapidly adopted as a major component of the diets of prehistoric farmers and pottery-using late hunter-gatherers1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The processing of milk, particularly the production of cheese, would have been a critical development because it not only allowed the preservation of milk products in a non-perishable and transportable form, but also it made milk a more digestible commodity for early prehistoric farmers6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The finding of abundant milk residues in pottery vessels from seventh millennium sites from north-western Anatolia provided the earliest evidence of milk processing, although the exact practice could not be explicitly defined1. Notably, the discovery of potsherds pierced with small holes appear at early Neolithic sites in temperate Europe in the sixth millennium BC and have been interpreted typologically as ‘cheese-strainers’10, although a direct association with milk processing has not yet been demonstrated. Organic residues preserved in pottery vessels have provided direct evidence for early milk use in the Neolithic period in the Near East and south-eastern Europe, north Africa, Denmark and the British Isles, based on the δ13C and Δ13C values of the major fatty acids in milk1, 2, 3, 4. Here we apply the same approach to investigate the function of sieves/strainer vessels, providing direct chemical evidence for their use in milk processing. The presence of abundant milk fat in these specialized vessels, comparable in form to modern cheese strainers11, provides compelling evidence for the vessels having being used to separate fat-rich milk curds from the lactose-containing whey. This new evidence emphasizes the importance of pottery vessels in processing dairy products, particularly in the manufacture of reduced-lactose milk products among lactose-intolerant prehistoric farming communities6, 7.
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I'd rather be the great great grandson of a demon ninja than some jackass who grew potatos. -- Covenant
Dead cows don't fart. -- CJvR
...and I like strudel! -- Asuka
From what i read there was evidence of domestic goats 10,000 years ago found in Iran. I am surprised they spread so far so quickly. Admittedly nomadic herding peoples did get around.
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I wish I had saved the article, but I was reading about this the other day. It is really interesting stuff, and the article mentioned that a lot of scholars believe that there was cheese production even earlier in Turkey, though they lack direct evidence of such.
EDIT: Also, I feel like this is a great topic by which you can separate scientists/academics from laymen. That is, you show this article to a "normal" person and they will probably say, "Who gives a shit?". While a scientists/academic is going to say, "WOW! That's amazing ... and what an elegant method!"
It is funny how these seemingly mundane areas of study (can we call this "archaefromolagy"?) are actually quite significant.
-- Asuka
