LeCHE project and the Archaeozoology of Early Dairying (Roz Gillis)
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- LeCHE project and the Archaeozoology of Early Dairying (Roz Gillis)
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Title
LeCHE project and the Archaeozoology of Early Dairying (Roz Gillis)
Description
Lactase persistence and the Cultural History of Europe (LeCHE) is a large training network in ‘archaeological science’. It comprises of two Early researchers (ER1 and 2) and 13 Early stage researchers (ESR1-13), 15 short (3 month) visiting ESRs (vESRs; one per project) and one visiting scientist (VS). LeCHE combines state of the art techniques in genetics, chemistry, archaeology and archaeozoology, in an unprecedented cross-disciplinary effort to understand the role played by dairying in shaping the health, history and culture of the peoples of Europe. The ESRs and ERs are based in labs across Europe, with a wide diversity of participants coming from as far afield as India and Scotland.
Dairying is the most prominent agriculture sector in many regions of the EU, particularly in Northern and Western Europe. However, despite the fact that milk is produced in every EU member state, there is a strong geographical NW/SE cline in milk production and consumption. It is proposed this cline an echo of two processes that occurred in European prehistory: (i) the introduction of domestic animals (cattle, sheep and goat) from their centre of domestication in the Near East, and (ii) selection for the ability to digest lactose as an adult (Lactase Persistence; LP); A clear case of gene-culture evolution.
Burger et al. (2008) has shown that LP was rare in first European Farmers and probably developed sometime after the initial introduction of domestic animals into Europe. There are several hypotheses for the evolution of LP in European populations, one being the Secondary Products Revolution (Sherratt 1981). Whatever the selective advantage of LP, nutritional and/or cultural, its late origin, widespread occurrence and dramatic increase in frequency in North Western Europeans clearly illustrates the importance of milk to emerging Europeans. Milk consumption was probably an important part of social and economic customs of different parts of Europe.
As an ESR in the LeCHE project, I will reconstruct Neolithic animal management patterns through studying kill-off patterns of sheep, goats and cattle, from Neolithic sites across Europe between 6,000 and 3,000BC. This will be coupled with isotopic analysis of cattle following Balasse and Tresset (2002). An unusual slaughtering peak ca. 7-9 months old has been identified at Bercy, Paris. This was interpreted as a special Neolithic system of cattle management for milk exploitation, which included killing calves at weaning time (post lactation slaughtering). Isotopic analysis confirmed this post-lactation slaughtering. This project will aim to test more cattle profiles with nitrogen and carbon isotopes and determine the sex of calves using aDNA. Through these analyses, I hope to assess the development and intensification of dairying practices, with particular reference to cattle.
For this presentation, I will present the brief background to my project, the research so far and the future.
Balasse and Tresset (J. Arch. Sci.2002, 29, 853)
Burger et al. PNAS, (2007, 104, 3736)
Sherratt, 1981; In: I Hodder, et al. (eds). Patterns of the Past: Studies in honour of David Clarke: 261-305.
Dairying is the most prominent agriculture sector in many regions of the EU, particularly in Northern and Western Europe. However, despite the fact that milk is produced in every EU member state, there is a strong geographical NW/SE cline in milk production and consumption. It is proposed this cline an echo of two processes that occurred in European prehistory: (i) the introduction of domestic animals (cattle, sheep and goat) from their centre of domestication in the Near East, and (ii) selection for the ability to digest lactose as an adult (Lactase Persistence; LP); A clear case of gene-culture evolution.
Burger et al. (2008) has shown that LP was rare in first European Farmers and probably developed sometime after the initial introduction of domestic animals into Europe. There are several hypotheses for the evolution of LP in European populations, one being the Secondary Products Revolution (Sherratt 1981). Whatever the selective advantage of LP, nutritional and/or cultural, its late origin, widespread occurrence and dramatic increase in frequency in North Western Europeans clearly illustrates the importance of milk to emerging Europeans. Milk consumption was probably an important part of social and economic customs of different parts of Europe.
As an ESR in the LeCHE project, I will reconstruct Neolithic animal management patterns through studying kill-off patterns of sheep, goats and cattle, from Neolithic sites across Europe between 6,000 and 3,000BC. This will be coupled with isotopic analysis of cattle following Balasse and Tresset (2002). An unusual slaughtering peak ca. 7-9 months old has been identified at Bercy, Paris. This was interpreted as a special Neolithic system of cattle management for milk exploitation, which included killing calves at weaning time (post lactation slaughtering). Isotopic analysis confirmed this post-lactation slaughtering. This project will aim to test more cattle profiles with nitrogen and carbon isotopes and determine the sex of calves using aDNA. Through these analyses, I hope to assess the development and intensification of dairying practices, with particular reference to cattle.
For this presentation, I will present the brief background to my project, the research so far and the future.
Balasse and Tresset (J. Arch. Sci.2002, 29, 853)
Burger et al. PNAS, (2007, 104, 3736)
Sherratt, 1981; In: I Hodder, et al. (eds). Patterns of the Past: Studies in honour of David Clarke: 261-305.
Creator
Roz Gillis, CNRS/MNHN Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité Paris
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Roz Gillis, CNRS/MNHN Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité Paris . "LeCHE project and the Archaeozoology of Early Dairying (Roz Gillis)," in BoneCommons, Item #865, http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/bonecommons/items/show/865 (accessed February 3, 2012).
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