Data from: The evolution of dual meat and milk cattle husbandry in Linearbandkeramik societies

Cattle dominate archaeozoological assemblages from the North central Europe between the 6th and 5th millennium BC and are frequently considered as exclusively used for their meat. Dairy products may have played a greater role than previously believed. Selective pressure on the lactase persistence mutation has been modelled to have begun between 6000 to 4000 years ago in central Europe. The discovery of milk lipids in late 6th millennium ceramic sieves in Poland may reflect an isolated regional peculiarity for cheese making or may signify more generalised milk exploitation in North-central Europe during the early Neolithic. To investigate these issues we analysed the mortality profiles based on age-at-death analysis of cattle tooth eruption, wear and replacement from 19 archaeological sites of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture (6th to 5th millennium BC). The results indicate that cattle husbandry was similar across time and space in the LBK culture with a degree of specialisation for meat exploitation in some areas. Statistical comparison with reference age-at-death profiles indicate that mixed husbandry (milk and meat) was practised, with mature animals being kept. The analysis provides a unique insight into LBK cattle husbandry and how it evolved in later cultures in Central and Western Europe. It also opens a new perspective on how and why the Neolithic way of life developed through continental Europe and how dairy products became a part of the human diet.

公元前6千纪至5千纪，中欧北部的考古动物组合中牛科动物占据绝对优势，此前学界普遍认为它们仅被用于肉食生产。但乳制品在当时经济体系中的重要性或许远超过往认知。针对乳糖耐受突变（lactase persistence mutation）的选择压力模型显示，中欧地区的该选择压力始于距今6000至4000年前。在波兰境内发现的公元前6千纪晚期陶瓷筛中残留的乳脂类遗存，既可能仅代表某一孤立区域的奶酪制作特色，也可能预示着新石器时代早期中欧北部普遍存在的乳类资源开发活动。为探究上述学术问题，我们对19处线纹陶文化（Linearbandkeramik，简称LBK，年代为公元前6千纪至5千纪）的考古遗址开展研究，基于牛科动物牙齿萌出、磨损及替换情况进行死亡年龄分布分析。研究结果表明，线纹陶文化时期的牛科动物饲养模式在时空维度上保持较高一致性，部分区域存在一定程度的肉食生产专业化倾向。通过与标准死亡年龄分布样本的统计学比对，可知当时采用了兼顾乳用与肉用的混合饲养模式，且会保留成年个体。本研究不仅为线纹陶文化的牛科动物饲养模式，以及中欧与西欧后续文化中的该模式演化路径提供了独特视角，还为新石器时代生活方式如何在欧洲大陆传播、乳制品如何逐步成为人类饮食组成部分的相关问题开辟了全新的研究思路。