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Processing of milk products in pottery vessels through British prehistory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

M.S. Copley ,
R. Berstan ,
S.N. Dudd ,
S. Aillaud ,
A.J. Mukherjee ,
V. Straker ,
S. Payne  and
R.P. Evershed
M.S. Copley
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK (Email: r.p.evershed@bris.ac.uk)
R. Berstan
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK (Email: r.p.evershed@bris.ac.uk)
S.N. Dudd
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK (Email: r.p.evershed@bris.ac.uk) Present address: Micromass UK Ltd., Manchester M22 5PP, UK
S. Aillaud
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK (Email: r.p.evershed@bris.ac.uk) Present address: Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, Hertford Road, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire EN11 9BU, UK
A.J. Mukherjee
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK (Email: r.p.evershed@bris.ac.uk)
V. Straker
Affiliation:
English Heritage South-west, 29 Queen Square, Bristol BS1 4ND, UK
S. Payne
Affiliation:
English Heritage, 23 Savile Row, London W1S 2ET, UK
R.P. Evershed
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK (Email: r.p.evershed@bris.ac.uk)
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Abstract

By extracting residues from pottery sherds the authors show that it is possible to say whether they had contained dairy or carcass fat residues. Correlation with faunal assemblages showed a good match between the incidence of dairy fat in pottery which implied a strong dairy fraction in the diet and a milking herd implied by the animal bones. They also show that dairy fat was more likely to be found in the smaller pots while carcass fats occurred in the larger ones. The method has demonstrated dairying in England from the fifth millennium BC, and offers a novel way of studying economies with pottery but few animal bones.

Keywords

British prehistorystable carbon isotope valuesmilkfatty acidsfood
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 306 , December 2005 , pp. 895 - 908
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

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