Kinda Cheesy

[Subdeacon Joe]

Now this one is more interesting.  It involves a more subtle observation and experimentation.  I'm not suggesting that our ancestors were stupid, just that in my simple mind, without a rudimentary knowledge of the chemistry involved in making cheese it seems a daunting task.

 

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-neolithic-ceramics-reveal-dairy-multiple.html

 

A new study has found evidence of cheesemaking, using milk from multiple animals, in Late Neolithic Poland.

The research suggests that early farmers reduced the lactose content in milk by making it into cheese or other dairy products like yogurt, and used dairy products from a number of different animals, such as cows, sheep or goats.

 

The study is published in the Royal Society Open Science.

 

Lactose intolerance was a common condition in almost everyone in Europe during the Neolithic Period and until the Late Bronze Age when a genetic mutation became widespread, enabling adults to produce lactase, the enzyme which breaks down lactose in the body.

 

Researchers looked at the practice of dairy processing in the Late Neolithic, identifying high curd-content residues in pottery indicating cheesemaking, and revealing that multiple dairy species were utilized.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

The timing of that mutation is figured as why the American Indian is generally lactose intolerant. Their ancestors left the places of origin before the mutation came .

[Doc Moses]

And Abraham was promised a land flowing with milk and honey. He was in the Middle East where the mutation was thought to originate. Oretty neat how that lines up!