Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa
Abstrak
Consuming the milk of other species is a unique adaptation of Homo sapiens, with implications for health, birth spacing and evolution. Key questions nonetheless remain regarding the origins of dairying and its relationship to the genetically-determined ability to drink milk into adulthood through lactase persistence (LP). As a major centre of LP diversity, Africa is of significant interest to the evolution of dairying. Here we report proteomic evidence for milk consumption in ancient Africa. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) we identify dairy proteins in human dental calculus from northeastern Africa, directly demonstrating milk consumption at least six millennia ago. Our findings indicate that pastoralist groups were drinking milk as soon as herding spread into eastern Africa, at a time when the genetic adaptation for milk digestion was absent or rare. Our study links LP status in specific ancient individuals with direct evidence for their consumption of dairy products. Consuming the milk of other species is a unique adaptation of Homo sapiens. Here, the authors carry out proteomic analysis of dental calculus of 41 ancient individuals from Sudan and Kenya, indicating milk consumption occurred as soon as herding spread into eastern Africa.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (28)
Madeleine Bleasdale
K. Richter
Anneke Janzen
Samantha Brown
Ashley Scott
Jana Zech
S. Wilkin
Ke Wang
S. Schiffels
J. Desideri
M. Besse
Jacques Reinold
Mohamed Saad
Hiba Babiker
R. Power
E. Ndiema
Christine Ogola
Fredrick K. Manthi
M. Zahir
M. Petraglia
C. Trachsel
P. Nanni
Jonas Grossmann
Jessica Hendy
Alison Crowther
P. Roberts
Steven T. Goldstein
N. Boivin
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2021
- Bahasa
- en
- Total Sitasi
- 68×
- Sumber Database
- Semantic Scholar
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-020-20682-3
- Akses
- Open Access ✓