Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, BS8 1TS Bristol, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 May 5;117(18):9793-9799. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1920309117. Epub 2020 Apr 13.
The development of pastoralism transformed human diets and societies in grasslands worldwide. The long-term success of cattle herding in Africa has been sustained by dynamic food systems, consumption of a broad range of primary and secondary livestock products, and the evolution of lactase persistence (LP), which allows digestion of lactose into adulthood and enables the milk-based, high-protein, low-calorie diets characteristic of contemporary pastoralists. Despite the presence of multiple alleles associated with LP in ancient and present-day eastern African populations, the contexts for selection for LP and the long-term development of pastoralist foodways in this region remain unclear. Pastoral Neolithic ( 5000 to 1200 BP) faunas indicate that herders relied on cattle, sheep, and goats and some hunting, but direct information on milk consumption, plant use, and broader culinary patterns is rare. Combined chemical and isotopic analysis of ceramic sherds ( = 125) from Pastoral Neolithic archaeological contexts in Kenya and Tanzania, using compound-specific δC and ΔC values of the major fatty acids, provides chemical evidence for milk, meat, and plant processing by ancient herding societies in eastern Africa. These data provide the earliest direct evidence for milk product consumption and reveal a history of reliance on animal products and other nutrients, likely extracted through soups or stews, and plant foods. They document a 5,000-y temporal framework for eastern Africa pastoralist cuisines and cultural contexts for selection for alleles distinctive of LP in eastern Africa.
畜牧业的发展改变了世界各地草原人类的饮食和社会结构。非洲牛群养殖业的长期成功得益于充满活力的食物系统，广泛消费初级和次级牲畜产品，以及乳糖持续存在（LP）的进化，这使得成年人能够消化乳糖，并使以牛奶为基础、高蛋白、低热量的饮食成为当代牧民的特征。尽管在古代和现代东非人群中存在与 LP 相关的多个等位基因，但 LP 选择的背景和该地区牧民食物方式的长期发展仍然不清楚。新石器时代的畜牧业（公元前 5000 年至 1200 年）动物群表明，牧民依赖牛、羊和山羊，以及一些狩猎活动，但关于牛奶消费、植物利用和更广泛的烹饪模式的直接信息很少。对肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚新石器时代考古背景下的 125 个陶瓷碎片进行化学和同位素联合分析（= 125），使用主要脂肪酸的特定于化合物的 δC 和 ΔC 值，为古代牧民社会在东非进行牛奶、肉类和植物加工提供了化学证据。这些数据提供了最早的关于牛奶产品消费的直接证据，并揭示了对动物产品和其他营养素的依赖历史，这些营养素可能是通过汤或炖菜以及植物性食物提取的。它们记录了东非牧民菜肴和 LP 独特等位基因选择的文化背景的 5000 年时间框架。
