The impact of farming on prehistoric culinary practices throughout Northern Europe

To investigate changes in culinary practices associated with the arrival of farming, we analysed the organic residues of over 1,000 pottery vessels from hunter-gatherer-fisher and early agricultural sites across Northern Europe from the Lower Rhine Basin to the Northeastern Baltic. Here, pottery was widely used by hunter-gatherer-fishers prior to the introduction of domesticated animals and plants. Overall, there was surprising continuity in the way that hunter-gatherer-fishers and farmers used pottery. Both aquatic products and wild plants remained prevalent, a pattern repeated consistently across the study area. We argue that the rapid adaptation of farming communities to exploit coastal and lagoonal resources facilitated their northerly expansion, and in some cases, hunting, gathering, and fishing became the most dominant subsistence strategy. Nevertheless, dairy products frequently appear in pottery associated with the earliest farming groups often mixed with wild plants and fish. Interestingly, we also find compelling evidence of dairy products in hunter-gatherer-fisher Ertebà¸lle pottery, which predates the arrival of domesticated animals. We propose that Ertebà¸lle hunter-gatherer-fishers frequently acquired dairy products through exchange with adjacent farming communities prior to the transition. The continuity observed in pottery use across the transition to farming contrasts with the analysis of human remains which shows substantial demographic change through ancient DNA and, in some cases, a reduction in marine consumption through stable isotope analysis. We postulate that farmers acquired the knowledge and skills they needed to succeed from local hunter-gatherer-fishers but without substantial admixture.

Funder

Funder name	Awards
EC \| ERC \| HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council	695539
British Academy	R1850601
Riksbankens Jubileumsfond	NA
Eesti Teadusagentuur	PSG492
Augustinus Fonden	22-1518
EC \| Horizon Europe \| Excellent Science \| HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions	956351
Academy of Finland	322331
Narodowe Centrum Nauki	2017/27/B/HS3/00478
EC \| Horizon Europe \| Coordination and support action	101079396
UKRI \| Innovate UK	10063975
EC \| ERC \| HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council	856488