Arheological and archaeozoological evidence of milk as a food in the territory of Croatia

According to the recent data the cattle domestication and use of milk as a food was older then considered before. Cattle domestication started 8,000 years B.C. that was proven from the various bones debris, whereas milk use was confirmed on the bases of fatty acid analyses on the pottery fragments as early as 5,000 years B.C. Early centres of cattle domestication were located at the Eastern Mediterranean area, and in the North Africa from where the cattle were spreading also to today’s Croatian area. In Copper and Bronze Age Europe new pottery forms appear that have been associated with dairying. Chemical analysis of late Eneolithic Baden culture pottery showed that some pottery types were used for production or storage of milk and its products. Based on the faunal data from the Eneolithic Vu edol archaeological site, numbers of bones, teeth and horn fragments were identified, with the significant domination of the female population throughout all cultural layers. It is believed they were most probably used for the reproduction and the milk production. Direct proofs for milk consumption by the local prehistoric population, based on the fatty acid determination from the pottery fragments were not evident. It can only be assumed that lactose tolerance was developed similarly to central and northern European populations. Simultaneously with genetic research, mentioned analyses and results will be valuable contribution for better understanding in development of metabolic and degenerative disease in modern humans, developed under the influence of the changes in dietary habits and environmental factors during the evolutionary interval.