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

Miriam Cubas Morera ,Ricardo Fernandes,João Zilhão,Ramón Fábregas Valcarce,André Carlo Colonese,Grégor Marchand,César Neves,Cécile Germain-Vallée,Teresa Simões,Roberto Ontañón Peredo ,Laurent Juhel,Pablo Arias,Harry K Robson,Alexandre Lucquin,Denis Jan,Mariana Diniz,Xosé Pedro Rodrı́guez ,Cyril Marcigny,Sylvain Mazet,Arturo De Lombera Hermida ,Cyrille Billard,Bruno Aubry,Oliver E Craig

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15907-4

Abstract

The introduction of farming had far-reaching impacts on health, social structure and demography. Although the spread of domesticated plants and animals has been extensively tracked, it is unclear how these nascent economies developed within different environmental and cultural settings. Using molecular and isotopic analysis of lipids from pottery, here we investigate the foods prepared by the earliest farming communities of the European Atlantic seaboard. Surprisingly, we find an absence of aquatic foods, including in ceramics from coastal sites, except in the Western Baltic where this tradition continued from indigenous ceramic using hunter-gatherer-fishers. The frequency of dairy products in pottery increased as farming was progressively introduced along a northerly latitudinal gradient. This finding implies that early farming communities needed time to adapt their economic practices before expanding into more northerly areas. Latitudinal differences in the scale of dairy production might also have influenced the evolution of adult lactase persistence across Europe.

Highlights

The introduction of farming had far-reaching impacts on health, social structure and demography
As well as absolute ranges (Fig. 2), ruminant adipose, ruminant dairy and porcine fats are distinguished according to differences in the carbon isotope values between the two main fatty acids
Our results show considerable geographic differences in the use of ceramic artefacts along the Atlantic coast of Europe

Summary

Introduction

The introduction of farming had far-reaching impacts on health, social structure and demography. Our understanding of agricultural origins in Europe has been reinvigorated by DNA analysis of human remains These studies broadly support a Near Eastern origin for Europe’s earliest farming communities directly associated with the beginning of food production, e.g. refs. Milk derived lipids have been identified in Early Neolithic pottery from Southern[9,10], Central[11,12,13,14] and Northern Europe[15,16,17,18], the scale and intensity of dairying in relation to meat production is still unknown Cumulatively such studies are beginning to highlight regional patterns of variation in early animal husbandry[9,10,12,19], providing a new understanding of how early farmers adapted to a range of environmental and cultural settings. The DNA evidence points to some limited admixture between foragers and farmers precisely when and where this occurred is still difficult to discern[6,30]

Methods

Results

Conclusion