Molecular and isotopic evidence for milk, meat, and plants in prehistoric eastern African herder food systems.

ABSTRACT: 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 (c 5000 to 1200 BP) faunas indicate that herders relied on cattle, sheep, and goats

SUBMITTER: Grillo KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7211989 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature