Lactase persistence and milk consumption in Europe: an interdisciplinary approach involving genetics and archaeology

Abstract

The ability to digest milk during adulthood (lactase persistence) is a genetically determined trait present only in humans. Its origin and diffusion are correlated with the development of pastoralism and the consumption of fresh milk. This work will present the genetic and archaeologi- cal data that allow the reconstruction of the co-evolutionary process between dairying culture and lactase persistence, as well as a discussion of the chronology and the way lactase persistence spread in Europe.

Mleko, stvar udomačitve

“…2008). Na drugi strani pa so genetske analize kostnih ostankov ljudi iz tega časa jasno pokazala, da ti prvi kmetje, ki so uživali mleko, tega kot odrasli ljudje niso mogli prebavljati (Leonardi 2013). Da bi prebavili mleko, potrebujemo pomoč encima laktaze.…”

Dairy Queen. Churns and milk products in the Aegean Bronze Age

“…39 This may reflect how dairying is simply not prominent in later texts, while it figures more visibly in texts from a period just after the Chalcolithic (Ghassulian), when pastoralism and 38 Itan et al 2009;Leonardi 2013 (for further research, see results of the LeCHE project (Lactase Persistence in the Early Cultural History of Europe, a Marie Curie International Training Project, 2009Project, -2013. 39 Zeder 1993;Dahl 2005. its products dominated local economies.…”