The Demise of the European Neolithic Mode of Animal Husbandry: A Combined Effect of Milk Consumption, Zoonotic Diseases, and Genetic Changes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

A new form of husbandry developed by the Neolithic settlers of Europe provided solid foundations for their unprecedented growth and sustainability. Its constituting elements comprised the secondary product’s mode of exploitation, the effective adaptation of major domesticates to different environmental and ecological zones, and changes in their genomes. However, the persistence of the European Neolithic mode of husbandry was not long-lasting. In subsequent centuries, dysfunctionalities in its different elements were becoming increasingly evident. In this paper, I will discuss three major effects of practices introduced by the Neolithic farmers that ultimately contributed to the demise of this form of husbandry and also led to the breakdown of the European Neolithic mode of sustainability. These comprise: (a) the disastrous effects of excessive milk consumption among lactase non-persistence local farmers; (b) the emergence of infectious zoonotic diseases and their harmful consequences; and (c) the acceleration of natural selection and its unforeseen outcome. The paper will also discuss the advancement of methods that make this study possible. These comprise an intertwined application of such methods as aDNA, eDNA, lipids analysis, and GMM, in addition to traditional zooarchaeological methods. The preliminary works on the Balkan and Central Neolithic will be presented.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37073.0