Dairy farming in the European mountain ranges of Alps may have begun as early as the Iron Age over 3,000 years ago, according to scientists who discovered milk fats on ancient pottery.
Dairy farming has long been an important economic and cultural tradition in the high Alps, but little is known about when and how the practice originated.
Using organic residue analysis, researchers from the University of York in the UK found evidence of dairy fats present on fragments of pottery from ancient stone structures high in the Alps.
The researchers suggest that these or pottery fragments, dated to the Iron Age, may have been used for dairying, such as heating milk, earlier than had been previously shown.
While only a small number of fragments were available for analysis due to poor preservation at high altitudes, the recovery of dairy fats from all three Iron Age sites may indicate that high alpine dairying began at least 3,000 years ago.
The findings are early evidence of nutritious resources being produced and exchanged for purposes of socioeconomic development, and are strongly tied to traditions, such as alpine cheese-making, that continue today, researchers said.
The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
