The goal of this collaborative and multidisciplinary project is to answer fundamental questions about the origins and spread of dairying. Today, global annual milk production is nearly 700 million metric tons, or enough for every human on earth to consume one pint of milk every day. Dairy is a critical part of the world's agricultural economy, and it is consumed on every continent. This is remarkable given the fact that the majority of the world's population is lactose intolerant. Humans are the only mammals that consume milk past infancy, and the utilization of milk by adults has required significant technological, cultural, and genetic adaptations to overcome lactose indigestibility. These adaptations, developed in prehistory, mark a major and lasting shift in human dietary ecology. Recently, dairy has become the subject of popular controversy, with some arguing that its consumption is unnatural and potentially harmful, while others emphasize the health benefits of its nutrient profile and probiotic potential. Archaeological investigations of early dairying can make a significant contribution to this public debate by clarifying the role and context of dairying in human diets over the past 10,000 years. However, many critical questions regarding the origins and spread of dairy remain poorly understood.
Dr. Christina Warinner and Dr. Cecil M. Lewis, Jr., of the University of Oklahoma, together with colleagues in the UK, Germany, and South Africa, will apply advanced proteomics techniques using tandem mass-spectrometry to identify animal milk protein in dental calculus (tartar) in order to document dairy consumption during key time periods in strategic geographic locations. The research will focus on Neolithic and Bronze Age populations in the Near East, Anatolia, and Europe, and will answer specific questions regarding the emergence, scale, nature, and spread of dairying economies in prehistoric populations. Specifically, the project will directly test and refine hypotheses regarding the origins and spread of Neolithic dairying, resolve ongoing debates about the scale of dairying before the rise of genetic adaptations for lactose tolerance, and determine the relative importance of sheep, goats, and cattle in early dairying economies. Bringing together a team of archaeologists, biologists, proteomics experts, and health professionals, this research will build international collaborations between multiple academic institutions and museums, create and enhance an international research and training network for graduate students, and contribute to public science education through public talks, lectures, and exhibits on the role of dairy in human prehistory. The results of the research will be published in peer-reviewed journals, and the data generated by the project will be made publically available for future use in open-access online data repositories.
