Neolithic cheese production

 In 1981, archaeologists studying key farming developments proposed that farm communities adopted dairying sometime between 4,000 and 3,500 BCE and  began using livestock for more than just meat.

"Animal bones from sites in the British Isles showed patterns of which cows were slaughtered—lots of young males and older females—it is consistent with what you would find in a dairying economy,” observed archaeologist Peter Bogucki.  

Bogucki had also noticed an unusual type of pottery at a number of sites around Poland: fragments of pots that had been perforated with small holes. Sieve sherds were frequently found at sites dating as far back as the Neolithic period. But other archaeologists proposed they may have been used only as honey strainers or for braziers.

Bogucki analyzed animal remains from Linear Pottery Culture settlements and concluded that Linear Pottery settlers seldom hunted for food and relied heavily on cattle. There were also almost no remains of pigs, a far more efficient meat source than cattle.  He concluded that raising cattle for meat alone would have made no economic sense as the herds would have consumed too much food over too long a time. Furthermore, production of milk alone would not justify dairy farming either unless it could be converted into something more storable. So, he proposed the sieves were being used to produce cheese.  

In 2013, using a technique to analyze lipid remnants in ancient pottery developed by Biochemist Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol, Bogucki was finally able to provide compelling evidence that ancient farmers used 7,200-year-old perforated pottery to separate low lactose cheese curds from whey, an important innovation since Neolithic Europeans were generally unable to digest lactose. Researchers also think the development of cheese production along with other fermented milk products may have reduced infant mortality as well and allowed for earlier weaning, decreasing the birth interval and potentially increasing population.

Read more about it: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-earliest-mediterranean-cheese-production-revealed.html and https://www.futurity.org/neolithic-strainer-hints-at-origin-of-cheese/

Images: Neolithic pottery from Dalmatia that was found to contain milk and fermented milk products when residue within the vessels was analyzed for carbon isotopes.  Image courtesy of phys.org.

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Citing a need for new theoretical perspectives, Hodder lowers the boom on researchers at Çatalhöyük

My avatar examines murals in the dwellings of virtual Çatalhöyük in
Second Life.

After writing a comprehensive article about virtual Çatalhöyük in Second Life for Heritage Key, I was naturally drawn to the following article and surprised by Dr. Hodder's announcement:

Researchers finishing the dig season at Turkey’s Çatalhöyük—a 9500-year-old site famed for its art and symbolism at the dawn of agriculture—got a big shock last week. Stanford University archaeologist Ian Hodder, who has directed excavations since 1993, told the heads of the dig’s specialty labs that they would be asked to step down beginning in 2012, when publication of current work will be completed.

“It has been a really remarkable team,” Hodder says. But, “I have felt over recent years that the project was getting comfortable with itself and so not challenging each other or me or the assumptions that we were all taking for granted.”  - Science Insider

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Oldest Human Sacrifice Site in Africa discovered north of Khartoum

French archaeologists in Sudan say they have uncovered the oldest proof of human sacrifice in Africa, hailing the discovery as the biggest Neolithic find on the continent for years.

The tomb of a 5 500-year-old man surrounded by three sacrificed humans, two dogs and exquisite ceramics were exhumed north of Khartoum by Neolithic expert Jacques Reinhold and his 66-year-old Austrian wife.

"This is the oldest proof of human sacrifice in Sudan, in Egypt, in Africa," Reinhold told reporters next to the remains in El Kadada village, a three-hour drive north of the Sudanese capital.

"I don't know of another example in Africa at this level...We don't have anything as strong in other excavations in other countries," said Reinhold, as villagers in traditional white robes carefully scrapped earth into buckets.

The archaeologist, who has led the excavation for several months, described the tomb as the most important Neolithic find in Africa since the 1990s.

That period - which Reinhold calls the first global revolution - marks the period when man evolved from hunter gatherers into farmers and producers, forever changing the structure of human society.

He says the find is nearly 1 000 years older what many consider Sudan's most spectacular discoveries of human sacrifice - scores of bodies buried together..."

"...The French team said that urns, materials used to grind wheat into flour, beeds and bracelets also uncovered at the site will be donated to the National Museum in Khartoum." If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

Epipalaeolithic mural found in Syria

"Deep in the heart of northern Syria, close to the banks of the Euphrates River, archaeologists have uncovered a series of startling 11,000-year-old wall paintings and artifacts. "The wall paintings date back to the 9th millennium BC. They were discovered last month on the wall of a house standing 2 meters high at Djade," said Frenchman Eric Coqueugniot, who has been leading the excavations on the west bank of the river at Djade, in an area famous for its rich tradition of prehistoric treasures.

The etchings are "polychrome paintings in black, white and red. The designs are solely geometric, and only figurative. The composition is made up of a system [of] cross-hatched lines, alternating between the three colors," said Coqueugniot.

They were found in a circular building, around 7.5 meters in diameter. The excavated house features three solid blocks where the paintings were located.

The main pillar has been completely excavated and stands almost 2 meters high displaying the new murals, said Coqueugniot, a researcher for the Paris-based National Centre for Scientific Research.

The remains of the building, much larger than the small and rectangular domestic dwellings of the period, "must have been used as a meeting place for the whole village or for a clan," Coqueugniot added.

Apart from the organic artifacts, which have decomposed over time, the site has provided many well-preserved treasures.

Carved stone tools, flints, seed-grinding implements and brick-grinding stones have been recovered. Many bone objects were also found - both remnants of the animals that made up part of the daily diet and intricately fashioned tools.

The dig also uncovered several figurines made of gypsum, chalk, bone and clay. The most recent discovery, an 11,000-year-old statue of a man is "particularly important and well preserved," Coqueugniot said.

This item will allow comparisons with other similar sculptures found on sites in the Urfa region of southern Turkey, added the French scientist, who has overseen archaeological projects at Djade for 15 years.

"The figures could have had religious significance. The female statuettes could also have been fertility symbols. But they could have had entirely different ritual meanings," Coqueugniot said.

"We can only offer hypotheses," he added. "It is still very difficult to [determine] the significance of this 11,000-year-old statue of the woman."

The latest discoveries date back to the start of the Neolithic era, in a period known as the Epipalaeolithic. Many artifacts from this period have been discovered in northern Syria, in particular at Jerf al-Ahmar"

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