4500 Years ago Neolithic Finland was Consuming Diary Products

Farming, including raising cows and consuming dairy products, reached far northern Europe much earlier than thought, according to new research.

Agriculture first took hold about 11,000 years ago in resource-rich, mild climate lands stretching between the Eastern Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. Researchers agree farming and animal husbandry spread northwest through Europe from the Fertile Crescent. But they have long debated just how far north the practices reached before generally poor soil and a harsher climate would have made traditional Neolithic techniques untenable.

A new analysis of food residues in pottery from southern Finland, however, proves populations in the far north were processing and consuming dairy products 4,500 years ago.

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