The past is notoriously hard to parse. Fortunately, new dental records are helping us learn about the milk drinking done by early Africans
History is written by the winners, but what about prehistory? We don’t know all that much about it, especially before the advent of writing. Everything we do know about it is from anthropologists studying long buried bones, artifacts, and locations. Fortunately, new developments in science have let us examine ancient dental records to unveil when humankind first started drinking milk.
It was extremely difficult to figure out the diets of ancient people in the past. Archeologists would look at cave drawings, look for proteins on things like vases and pots, and try to find evidence of farming from animal and human bones in proximity. Although these could give us insight into how ancient people lived and farmed, it didn’t necessarily tell us about their diets.
Proteomics and dental records
Archeological scientists are increasingly using proteomics to decipher what ancient people actually ate and drank. What is proteomics? Proteomics is the extraction and identification of ancient proteins. When they are isolated and correctly ID’d they tell us about what animals they were from and even what animal product.
Proteomics comes into play in ancient human dental records. One of the most important areas that scientists who study proteomcs can have access to is dental calculus. Dental calculus is a term for dental plaque that has mineralized over time. Dental plaque is that film of bacteria that builds up on your teeth and can cause tooth decay. Make sure you carefully remove it when you brush, so that in a few thousand years dentists aren’t studying your dental calculus. Ancient people didn’t have toothbrushes, but hopefully you do. The tooth decay that plagued ancient people has wound up being a boon for us in the modern day. It provides a wealth of information regarding what ancient people ate. Knowing what they ate in turn tells us what they farmed, what they hunted, and what they traded their own goods for.
What is the signifigance of milk drinking in early Africans?
The earliest milk proteins were discovered in a location in Sudan, dating back roughly 6,000 years. They showed proteins from goat/sheep milk in dental calculus. Goat and sheep milk proteins were discovered in other dental calculus deposits from a site in Kenya, dating back between 3,600 and 3,200 years ago. Scientists speculate that the consumption of goat milk in these areas was what led to the long and hardy reign of African herder cultures. The results of early milk consumption can be seen in dental records in ancient peoples, and also in the genetics of present peoples.
Evolution and culture
Normally, children produce an enzyme known as lactase, which makes it easier for them to drink milk. As they grow older, the body stops producing it, and many adults have trouble consuming dairy without some discomfort.
In some populations, including across Africa, there are genes that result in lactase persistence. This means that as adults age, they continue to produce lactase and can digest it easily. There are up to four genes across Africa that result in lactase persistance. Despite years of study, it’s still unknown how dairy farming and human biology have evolved together.
This study sheds light on how ancient people living in dry arid climates were able to survive and thrive. As animal milk is rich in proteins and nutrients, people who lived in places not ideal for farming had to find other food solutions. One of the top ways to do so is by farming goats and sheep. They provided valuable meat for ancient people. We can be certain now that they also provided those same ancient people with milk.
Interstingly enough, the evidence from the proteomics shows that the ancient Africans studied were not lactase persistent. So that begs the question: how were they consuming milk? Scientists suspect that the answer lies in fermentation. We aren’t talking about alcohol, the most notably fermented human beverage, even though the Mongolians famously drink fermented alcoholic horse milk. We are talking about the second most famous fermented ancient product: yogurt. Yogurt contains less lactase and is thus easier for adults to digest.
Milk may be consumed all over the world nowadays, but historically, yogurt was the go-to dairy product. It could be fermented and more easily preserved as well as digested.
This study has provided some amazing insights into gene-culture evolution, and hopefully is a precursor of more great things to be learned from proteomics.
Click here to read more about this study from Nature.com.
Don’t let future anthropologists find your dental calculus
Although it may be useful for future people to learn about what we eat straight from the source, we fortunately live in a time of well-recorded history. You have no need to preserve your tooth plaque for historians. Instead, you should take care of your teeth. If you have some plaque that you can’t seem to shake, or are worried you might have a cavity, then that’s where Josey Lane Dentistry can help. We have been serving the Carrollton Texas area for over 15 years, and we would be happy to provide you with the best dental service available. Schedule a dental check-up or appointment today, let your plaque be a thing of the past, rather than the future.
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