Food is one of the most revealing aspects to understand the evolution of human societies as well as their periods of growth and decline. From the use of fire for cooking to the incorporation of different products to the diet, the sites retain clues to find out how the way of feeding has changed throughout history. This Wednesday we were able to know what the first prehistoric bottles were like.
Various clay vessels up to 5,000 years old designed for babies and young children to drink milk from animals have been found in several countries in Central Europe. The concept is a bit reminiscent of our botijos, although they were shaped like imaginary animals with two legs.
As they explain in an article published in the journal Nature , scientists believe that they were, in effect, containers for children because inside they have found traces of milk from different animals, such as cows and goats.
"These vessels are the first and only direct test that shows that prehistoric babies drank milk from animals . This, together with the fact that they were in children's graves, points directly to these vessels being used to feed them with animal milk (not human) and / or as a nutritional supplement during weaning, "explains Julie Dunne, a researcher at the University of Bristol (United Kingdom) and lead author of the study.
These types of vessels had already been seen in European Neolithic sites from 5000 BC. C. (one of the oldest was found in Steigra, Germany, and was dated between 5500 BC and 4800 BC). As archeological findings show, they became more common during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age . Until now it was thought that they could be used to feed children because they were small and manageable for them, but it could not be ruled out that they had been conceived for sick people or those with limited mobility.
To determine what they were used for, the researchers analyzed three vessels found in Bavaria in graves of children aged between six years and less than one year. Two of them came from Iron Age cemeteries (dated between 800 BC and 450 BC) and the third from a Bronze Age necropolis (1200-800 BC). They measured only between five and ten centimeters in diameter and had an extremely small pitorro.
The residues preserved inside were found to be fatty acids from animal products, including fresh milk. Two of the prehistoric bottles had stored ruminant animal milk, while in the other there was a mixture of waste, possibly from pigs or humans.
"We really know very little about the feeding of prehistoric children . We have some general knowledge thanks to the isotopes found in the skeletons found in tombs of Central Europe, from periods between the Neolithic and the Iron Age, which suggest that already at six months old people began to give them nutritional supplements until they were two or three years old, "Dunne explains.
With regard to the consumption of milk by Europeans, several scientific studies have shown that milk was already processed in clay containers in the Middle East around 7000 BC and in Africa around 5000 BC, Dunne reviews: "Also we know that the ancient Egyptians and the Romans drank milk . " These studies, he adds, try to answer a broader question about the evolution of the so-called lactase persistence gene. People with lactase persistence have in their DNA a mutation that keeps the lactase gene active during adulthood and, thanks to this, they can digest lactose (which is the sugar present in milk). This ability, says the scientist, is the result of human evolution.
Disease transmission
That the children of such a young age drink milk from animals, says the scientist, entailed a series of health problems. "Even if it was a valuable source of nutrients, there are differences between human and animal milk and this would have put children at risk of diarrhea and other diseases . Even today, we know that unpasteurized milk may be contaminated. and transmit animal diseases to people. "
However, it highlights that, globally, that the milk of animals was used to feed children or as a food supplement was only possible with the change in lifestyle that took place with the development of agriculture and human settlements in communities It was then that people began to domesticate animals (cows, sheep, goats and pigs) and to plant crops, for example, cereals. From that moment, he adds, " there were new foods available to feed the children ."
These advances led to the so-called Neolithic demographic transition in which milk began to be given to children, improving nutrition and increasing birth rates, which ultimately allowed the population to increase and ultimately create urban centers.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Science and Health
- science
Evolution A worm 550 million years ago sheds light on the first beings that could move
Health The largest research center hires the head of Human Resources 'finger'
Science: Fine of up to 250 euros in Portugal for throwing cigarette butts on the ground ... or for allowing another to do so