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Milk : a local and global history
\"A history of milk and its many uses in different cultures of the world\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 bce in Eurasia
Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility
1
. However, the timeline between their domestication and their widespread integration as a means of transport remains contentious
2
–
4
. Here we assemble a collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were first reshaped by human agency in Eurasia. We find that reproductive control of the modern domestic lineage emerged around 2200
bce
, through close-kin mating and shortened generation times. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than approximately 2700
bce
, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. This expansion marked the rise of widespread horse-based mobility in human history, which refutes the commonly held narrative of large horse herds accompanying the massive migration of steppe peoples across Europe around 3000
bce
and earlier
3
,
5
. Finally, we detect significantly shortened generation times at Botai around 3500
bce
, a settlement from central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centred on horses
6
,
7
. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines.
Analyses of 475 ancient horse genomes show modern horses emerged around 2200
bce
, coinciding with sudden expansion across Eurasia, refuting the narrative of large horse herds accompanying earlier migrations of steppe peoples across Europe.
Journal Article
environmental impact of dairy production: 1944 compared with 2007
A common perception is that pasture-based, low-input dairy systems characteristic of the 1940s were more conducive to environmental stewardship than modern milk production systems. The objective of this study was to compare the environmental impact of modern (2007) US dairy production with historical production practices as exemplified by the US dairy system in 1944. A deterministic model based on the metabolism and nutrient requirements of the dairy herd was used to estimate resource inputs and waste outputs per billion kg of milk. Both the modern and historical production systems were modeled using characteristic management practices, herd population dynamics, and production data from US dairy farms. Modern dairy practices require considerably fewer resources than dairying in 1944 with 21% of animals, 23% of feedstuffs, 35% of the water, and only 10% of the land required to produce the same 1 billion kg of milk. Waste outputs were similarly reduced, with modern dairy systems producing 24% of the manure, 43% of CH₄, and 56% of N₂O per billion kg of milk compared with equivalent milk from historical dairying. The carbon footprint per billion kilograms of milk produced in 2007 was 37% of equivalent milk production in 1944. To fulfill the increasing requirements of the US population for dairy products, it is essential to adopt management practices and technologies that improve productive efficiency, allowing milk production to be increased while reducing resource use and mitigating environmental impact.
Journal Article
Bronze Age population dynamics and the rise of dairy pastoralism on the eastern Eurasian steppe
Recent paleogenomic studies have shown that migrations of Western steppe herders (WSH) beginning in the Eneolithic (ca. 3300–2700 BCE) profoundly transformed the genes and cultures of Europe and central Asia. Compared with Europe, however, the eastern extent of this WSH expansion is not well defined. Here we present genomic and proteomic data from 22 directly dated Late Bronze Age burials putatively associated with early pastoralism in northern Mongolia (ca. 1380–975 BCE). Genome-wide analysis reveals that they are largely descended from a population represented by Early Bronze Age hunter-gatherers in the Baikal region, with only a limited contribution (∼7%) of WSH ancestry. At the same time, however, mass spectrometry analysis of dental calculus provides direct protein evidence of bovine, sheep, and goat milk consumption in seven of nine individuals. No individuals showed molecular evidence of lactase persistence, and only one individual exhibited evidence of >10% WSH ancestry, despite the presence of WSH populations in the nearby Altai-Sayan region for more than a millennium. Unlike the spread of Neolithic farming in Europe and the expansion of Bronze Age pastoralism on the Western steppe, our results indicate that ruminant dairy pastoralism was adopted on the Eastern steppe by local hunter-gatherers through a process of cultural transmission and minimal genetic exchange with outside groups.
Journal Article
The environmental impact of beef production in the United States: 1977 compared with 2007
Consumers often perceive that the modern beef production system has an environmental impact far greater than that of historical systems, with improved efficiency being achieved at the expense of greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of this study was to compare the environmental impact of modern (2007) US beef production with production practices characteristic of the US beef system in 1977. A deterministic model based on the metabolism and nutrient requirements of the beef population was used to quantify resource inputs and waste outputs per billion kilograms of beef. Both the modern and historical production systems were modeled using characteristic management practices, population dynamics, and production data from US beef systems. Modern beef production requires considerably fewer resources than the equivalent system in 1977, with 69.9% of animals, 81.4% of feedstuffs, 87.9% of the water, and only 67.0% of the land required to produce 1 billion kg of beef. Waste outputs were similarly reduced, with modern beef systems producing 81.9% of the manure, 82.3% CH(4), and 88.0% N(2)O per billion kilograms of beef compared with production systems in 1977. The C footprint per billion kilograms of beef produced in 2007 was reduced by 16.3% compared with equivalent beef production in 1977. As the US population increases, it is crucial to continue the improvements in efficiency demonstrated over the past 30 yr to supply the market demand for safe, affordable beef while reducing resource use and mitigating environmental impact.
Journal Article
History of the Use of Antibiotic as Growth Promoters in European Poultry Feeds
Use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feeds has been permitted in the member states of the European Union during the last 50 yr. However, concerns about development of antimicrobial resistance and about transference of antibiotic resistance genes from animal to human microbiota, led to withdraw approval for antibiotics as growth promoters in the European Union since January 1, 2006. This report analyzes the history of European legislation regarding the use of antibiotics in poultry feeds, since the first harmonization by Directive 70/524 until Regulation 1831/2003 deleted these substances from the European Register of additives permitted in feeds. The European support to recommendations of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Organization for Animal Health for a ban on antimicrobial use in animal feeds is expected to favor other countries also phase these substances out.
Journal Article
Nomadic ecology shaped the highland geography of Asia’s Silk Roads
There are many unanswered questions about the evolution of the ancient ‘Silk Roads’ across Asia. This is especially the case in their mountainous stretches, where harsh terrain is seen as an impediment to travel. Considering the ecology and mobility of inner Asian mountain pastoralists, we use ‘flow accumulation’ modelling to calculate the annual routes of nomadic societies (from 750 m to 4,000 m elevation). Aggregating 500 iterations of the model reveals a high-resolution flow network that simulates how centuries of seasonal nomadic herding could shape discrete routes of connectivity across the mountains of Asia. We then compare the locations of known high-elevation Silk Road sites with the geography of these optimized herding flows, and find a significant correspondence in mountainous regions. Thus, we argue that highland Silk Road networks (from 750 m to 4,000 m) emerged slowly in relation to long-established mobility patterns of nomadic herders in the mountains of inner Asia.
The authors use modelling to show that the network of trading routes known as the Silk Road emerged from hundreds of years of interactions between pastoralists as they moved their herds and flocks between higher and lower elevations in generally mountainous regions.
Smoothing out the Silk Road (Frachetti 21696, Biology Article, ed Henry Gee)
The Silk Road refers to a network of ancient trade routes that have crossed central Asia since time immemorial. But how did it get started? Conventional models usually start by inferring the easiest paths between sites already known to be part of the network. This introduces a circular argument as it biases the results towards what is already known. Here Michael Frachetti and colleagues take a different approach to show that the network emerged from hundreds of years of interactions between pastoralists moving their livestock between higher and lower elevations in response to the seasons in this generally mountainous region. They suggest that the Silk Road network therefore materialized slowly from the long-established, local mobility patterns of nomadic herders. This finding may encourage archaeologists to seek more nuanced explanations for the evolution of ancient connectivity.
Journal Article
Isotopes, herds, and landscape management practices: New insights on early farming communities in the Serpis Valley (Eastern Iberian Peninsula)
The establishment of the first livestock communities in the eastern Iberian Peninsula during the 6 th millennium cal BCE marked a significant transition in the region’s economic system. The research of early animal management practices provides crucial valuable understanding into feeding and pastoral strategies, revealing insights into the social organization of landscapes and their resources. Using stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotopic analyses of faunal remains this study investigates the interplay between environmental conditions, animal management practices, and dietary habits in Neolithic herds from Mas d’Is and Niuet sites in the Serpis Valley. The landscape of the area, characterized by Mediterranean forests and marshes, provided a variety of plant resources. Although most of the valley is covered by C 3 types of plants, there were some clusters of C 4 vegetation. The isotopic analyses prove that the local herds can be disaggregated in two groups: some animals with a diet based on C 3 , some feeding on C 4 plants. These results reveal diverse feeding strategies and, by default, spatialized management practices. In addition, the animals presenting a C 3 signature, have, as well, strong nitrogen values and marks on the bones that indicate they were part of the agricultural cycle as traction force. This complex organisational strategy, with two herds that show different levels of husbandry intensification, might reflect broader socio-economic systems, where the landscape may have been managed with a mosaic of different property regimes: where marginal areas might have been considered as communal or open-access resources, while more fertile areas nearby settlements, might have been used as crop fields, and individually or household managed. The integration of livestock into agricultural systems and the selective use of landscape resources highlight an adaptive and dynamic approach to animal husbandry in response to environmental and social factors during the Neolithic in the Serpis Valley.
Journal Article
Where did the herds go? Combining zooarchaeological and isotopic data to examine animal management in ancient Thessaly (Greece)
Historians and archaeologists have been debating the scale of animal husbandry in ancient Greece for decades. This study contributes to the debate by examining Classical and Hellenistic faunal assemblages from Magoula Plataniotki, New Halos, and Pherae through non-destructive zooarchaeological methods and a multi-isotopic (
87
Sr/
86
Sr, δ
13
C, and δ
18
O) approach. Zooarchaeological data suggest that small-scale sedentary animal husbandry focused on caprine production in Magoula Plataniotiki and New Halos, and small-scale and semi-specialised animal husbandry was practised in Pherae. Isotopic data show both sedentary and mobile management of livestock in all sites, indicating different levels of production intensity and variety of goals. Based on our results, we propose an economic model whereby semi-specialised and small-scale animal husbandry co-existed, confirming mixed husbandry models for ancient Greece.
Journal Article
Long livestock farming history and human landscape shaping revealed by lake sediment DNA
The reconstruction of human-driven, Earth-shaping dynamics is important for understanding past human/environment interactions and for helping human societies that currently face global changes. However, it is often challenging to distinguish the effects of the climate from human activities on environmental changes. Here we evaluate an approach based on DNA metabarcoding used on lake sediments to provide the first high-resolution reconstruction of plant cover and livestock farming history since the Neolithic Period. By comparing these data with a previous reconstruction of erosive event frequency, we show that the most intense erosion period was caused by deforestation and overgrazing by sheep and cowherds during the Late Iron Age and Roman Period. Tracking plants and domestic mammals using lake sediment DNA (lake sedDNA) is a new, promising method for tracing past human practices, and it provides a new outlook of the effects of anthropogenic factors on landscape-scale changes.
Humans have influenced the shaping of the landscape for generations, yet disentangling these influences from those of climate is a challenge. Giguet-Covex
et al.
take the novel approach of using lake sediment DNA to reconstruct a detailed picture of human land use since the Neolithic Period.
Journal Article