The evidence of fermented dairy products in clay pots represents the earliest example of cheese making in the Mediterranean region. West Benic Museum About 7,200 years ago, farmers near the Adriatic Sea lived in clay pots filled with soft cheese. Thousands of years later, archaeologists found traces of this fermented cheese-like good thing, preserving the chemical characteristics left in the container.

This new evidence was found in two places in Croatia today, dating back to 5200 BC, which delayed the cheese production in the Mediterranean for more than 2000 years. Scientists report in a new study that,

The production of cheese may change the rules of the game of early farmers; The researchers wrote that this may help adults who are lactose intolerant to eat dairy products more easily, because fermentation will reduce the lactose content of dairy products. Studies have shown that with the migration of farmers from the Mediterranean to Europe, cheese, as a kind of food that is easy to carry and preserve, will become a reliable nutritional source. This expansion began around 7000 BC and lasted for about 3000 years. Sarah Macclure, an associate professor of anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, told Life Science that the Balkans is considered as the gateway for agriculture to spread to northern Europe. There is evidence that the production of cheese keeps pace with the change of farmers' settlement mode, which shows that there is a connection between cheese and human migration. Macclure explained:

Scientists found traces of cheese-making on clay utensils collected from two Neolithic villages on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia-which indicates the lipid of fermented dairy products-the researchers reported: Pokrovnik and Danilo Bitinj.

Archaeologists found traces of cheese fat in pottery unearthed from Bokrovnik archaeological site in Croatia. Macclure said: "KDSP" archaeological site is often cleaned during the preparation process, which will destroy or damage the residues that show how the ceramic pots may be used. Fortunately, the excavator preparing the site pottery decided not to wash 10% of the fragments, which preserved the precious oil produced by cheese thousands of years ago. "Residue analysis is a relatively new thing in archaeology," Macclure said. "People may have been doing this for 10 years.

"Now the field work method is catching up with the laboratory work method, and we see that we should save at least one sub-sample without cleaning-now we know that we can get better data from the residue," she said.

What is this old cheese like?

"I can imagine this is a fresh and hard piece of cheese," Macclure said. "It's not as soft as whey cheese, but it's heavier, like a farmer's cheese, or maybe like cheese."

A mature history People in the Mediterranean have been drinking milk for at least 9000 years. According to the residual dairy products found on 500 prehistoric pottery on the Mediterranean coast. The earliest evidence of cheese making can be traced back to about 7500 years ago, which was found in 24 pottery pieces collected in Poland.

In some cases, real pieces of ancient cheese have been preserved until now. In 20 14, researchers reported that a piece of yellow cheese was found around the neck of a mummy 3,800 years ago in China. These cheeses may be buried with the body as snacks in the afterlife.

Another piece of ancient cheese called "frozen white block" by researchers was recently discovered in Egypt. According to life science, this ancient tomb can be traced back to 3000 years ago. But you don't want to taste this cheese; Molecular evidence in cheese shows that it may be infected with Brucella, which spreads brucellosis, a serious gastrointestinal disease.

Original articles on life sciences.