homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Cheese has a 7500 year history

Polish researchers have found the earliest evidence of prehistoric cheese-making from a study of 7,500-year-old pottery fragments that are perforated much like today’s modern cheese strainers. When early men figured out how to make cheese, it was a big thing; at that time, livestock was too precious to use just for the meat, and mankind […]

Mihai Andrei
December 13, 2012 @ 6:04 am

share Share

Polish researchers have found the earliest evidence of prehistoric cheese-making from a study of 7,500-year-old pottery fragments that are perforated much like today’s modern cheese strainers.

When early men figured out how to make cheese, it was a big thing; at that time, livestock was too precious to use just for the meat, and mankind was largely lactose intolerant, making cheese the perfect culinary alternative. The introduction of dairying turned out to be a critical step in early agriculture, with products being rapidly adopted as a major component of the diet.

Researchers from the University of Bristol in Britain, with colleagues in the United States and Poland analyzed fatty acids embedded on prehistoric pottery from the Polish region of Kuyavia, and they found the pottery was used to separate milk into fat-rich curds for cheese and lactose-containing whey. Whey (or milk serum) is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained – a byproduct of cheese manufacturing.

“The presence of milk residues in sieves … constitutes the earliest direct evidence for cheese-making,” said Mélanie Salque from Bristol, one of the authors of the research, which was published in the journal Nature. Peter Bogucki, another researcher involved in the work, said: “Making cheese allowed them to reduce the lactose content of milk, and we know that, at that time, most of the humans were not tolerant to lactose.”

Cheesemaking today

Traces of milk have been found in 8.000 year old sites in Turkey and Libya, but with no real indication that the milk was turned into cheese.

“It is truly remarkable, the depth of insights into ancient human diet and food processing technologies these ancient fats preserved in archaeological ceramics are now providing us with,” said Richard Evershed, who heads the Bristol team.

share Share

This 5,500-year-old Kish tablet is the oldest written document

Beer, goats, and grains: here's what the oldest document reveals.

This Babylonian Student's 4,000-Year-Old Math Blunder Is Still Relatable Today

More than memorializing a math mistake, stone tablets show just how advanced the Babylonians were in their time.

The Oldest Human Genomes in Europe Show How an Entire Branch of Humanity Disappeared

An ancient human lineage roamed Europe's frozen tundra for nearly 80 generations. Then they died out.

This New Catalyst Can Produce Ammonia from Air and Water at Room Temperature

Forget giant factories! A new portable device could allow farmers to produce ammonia right in the field, reducing costs, and emissions.

Scientists Unearth a 4,000-Year-Old Massacre So Brutal It May Have Included Cannibalism

It's Britain's bloodiest prehistoric massacre.

Hidden 35,000-Year-Old Ritual Site Found Eight Storeys Deep Inside an Israeli Cave

New study reveals ancient rituals, a carved turtle, and clues to early human gatherings.

9,000-year-old non-stick trays was used to make Neolithic focaccia

Husking trays not only baked bread but also fostered human connection across an area spanning 2,000 km (~1,243 miles)

Germanic warriors in the Roman era may have used drugs in battle

Hundreds of tiny tools attached to battle belts suggest ancient barbarians used stimulants for war.

Archaeologists May Have Found a Shipwreck From Vasco da Gama’s Final Voyage

A potential da Gama shipwreck may rewrite maritime history.

This 15,000-Year-Old Stone Carving Is the Oldest Depiction of Fishing

At a German campsite, 15,800-year-old engravings reveal how Ice Age people used fishing nets.