New insights into Neolithic milk consumption through proteomic analysis of dental calculus

Abstract

There has long been debate over the origins of dairy consumption within European populations. Whilst it was previously assumed that lactase persistence (LP) was under positive selection following the advent of agriculture, recent genetic studies of prehistoric human remains have revealed LP may have only emerged in Europe in the last 4000 years. These findings stand in contrast to organic residue analysis of Neolithic pottery indicating the utilisation of dairy products, and zooarchaeological mortality profiles consistent with dairying herds at Neolithic sites. The recent discovery of the milk protein β-lactoglobulin (BLG) within human dental calculus presents a new method via which to explore dairy product consumption in the archaeological past. Here, we apply shotgun proteomic analysis to dental calculus samples from three British Neolithic sites, revealing the earliest identification of BLG in human dental calculus to date. The presence of BLG peptides in individuals who are unlikely to possess LP provides new insight into dairying in the British Neolithic, suggesting the potential processing of milk by Neolithic populations to reduce the lactose content of dairy products.

Latitudinal gradient in dairy production with the introduction of farming in Atlantic Europe

“…1c, d and 2d, e). Its importance is further supported by recent findings of cattle milk proteins in the dental calculus of Early Neolithic individuals from the UK 51 .…”

Origin of Lactose Fermentation in Kluyveromyces lactis by Interspecies Transfer of a Neo-functionalized Gene Cluster during Domestication

“…This is close to or within the timescale for the emergence of agriculture. The milk-producing animals cow, sheep, and goat were all domesticated between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago [20], and paleoproteomic analysis of dental calculus has shown that humans were consuming milk, most likely as cheese or other fermented products, by 5,500 years ago [21]. Because our estimate for the age of the LAC gene introgression extends into the period of milk animal domestication, it is plausible that selection for the introgression was the result of human activity during production of a fermented milk product, such as cheese or kefir.…”

Living off the land: Terrestrial-based diet and dairying in the farming communities of the Neolithic Balkans

“…ß-lactoglobulin appears to be a relatively robust protein and has been identified in other Bronze Age and Neolithic samples, where total protein identifications were similar to those observed in this study. For example, even in relatively poorly preserved early Neolithic dental calculus samples from Britain (with total protein identifications ranging from 15 to 128 proteins), ß-lactoglobulin was detected in six of the 10 tested individuals [107].…”