The Monogenesis-Bipolarization Hypothesis of Eurasian Milk Culture

Abstract

Processing techniques to preserve milk underpin pastoralism as a mode of subsistence, since the sheep and goats on which pastoralists mainly rely are seasonal breeders with limited periods of lactation. Mating and offspring births are seasonal, and the milking that follows the births also has a seasonal bias. To survive through the winter, they had to process and preserve milk from the rich yields of summer. The essence of milk processing lies in preservation. As Nakao acutely points out, “milk processing systems focus on the goal of storing everything; without storage, the central driving force of food processing would disappear.” Milk products as preserved foods are today made with great ingenuity and refinement, but essentially they are the outcome of a process of repeated trial and error in ways to keep abundant seasonal foodstuff unspoiled through the nonproductive season. It was the ability to process and preserve milk that allowed the establishment of pastoralism with its year-round dependence on milk. In this chapter, I argue first that West Asia is the single center of origin of milk culture, that milking and milk use began uniquely in this region. Next, based on 70 case studies of milk processing systems across Eurasia, I examine the developmental history that led to the bipolarization of milk culture. Finally, I discuss my monogenesis-bipolarization hypothesis and consider how it might be validated.