Photo by Scott Bauer (US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Farming and Cheese Production in “Neolithic” Europe?
A recent find at two archaeological sites in Croatia (just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy) discovered dairy lipids in several fragments of jars of pottery. This means these people were likely producing cheese and storing it for eating later. In most cases, pottery fragments finds are carefully washed. But the researchers decided to keep some pots unwashed so as to be able to do an analysis and see if they could determine what was in the jars. Had all of the pottery been washed, any traces of dairy would have been lost. So this is an example of good fieldwork technique and observational science.
Now the journal article where this find was published mentions that this was around 7,200 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating, a method which is loaded with faulty assumptions. This is not based on observational science but origins (or historical science). As my son-in-law likes to say, this is man’s “imaginary time”.
From a biblical worldview, these were farmers who spread out from Babel after the confusion of languages in Genesis chapter 11, around 2200 BC. As people moved into and settled the Mediterranean, they planted crops, domesticated and raised animals for food, and at some point started fermenting cow, sheep, and/or goat milk into yogurts and cheeses. This would have decreased the lactose content and made this nutritious food source easier to digest, particularly for lactose-intolerant adults.
It’s no surprise that Europeans (and people with European ancestry) tend to have the lowest percentage of lactose-intolerance. This early “dairy farming” gave these farmers an additional source of less-perishable food, which is also high in protein and calcium. This would help them be better able to survive times of drought or crop failure. Rather than taking thousands of years to develop from hunter-gatherers to farmers to herdsman (as in the evolutionary story), mankind has always been intelligent and started out herding animals right away (Genesis 4:2).
Get More Answers on Answers News
This item was discussed today on Answers News. Answers News is our twice-weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum and broadcast on my Facebook page and the Answers in Genesis Facebook page. We also discussed the following intriguing topics:
- Gene editing fixes muscular dystrophy in dogs—and humans could be next.
- Adaptable lizards illustrate key evolutionary process proposed a century ago.
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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
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