‘Evidence for 7,200 year-old cheese found in Croatia’

An international team of researchers has found the evidence of fermented dairy products — soft cheeses and yoghurts — in Croatia dating back about 7,200 years. “This pushes back cheese-making by 4,000 years,” said Sarah B McClure, an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University in the US. The presence of milk in pottery in Dalmatian Coast of Croatia is seen as early as 7,700 years ago, 500 years earlier than fermented products, according to the research published in the journal PLOS One.

DNA analysis of the populations in this area indicate that the adults were lactose-intolerant, but the children remained able to consume milk comfortably up to the age of ten. “This is the earliest documented lipid residue evidence for fermented dairy in the Mediterranean region, and among the earliest documented anywhere to date,” said McClure. “Cheese production is important enough that people are making new types of kitchenware We are seeing that cultural shift,” said McClure.

When only meat, fish and some milk residue is found in pottery, during the Early Neolithic, the pottery is a style called “Impressed Ware” found throughout the area. About 500 years later, in the Middle Neolithic, another pottery style using different technology existed — Danilo …read more