The impact of farming on prehistoric culinary practices throughout Northern Europe

Abstract

How prehistoric farming became established in Northern Europe, a region that supported dense populations of hunter-gatherer-fishers, has concerned archaeologists for over a century. Through analysis of the organic residues recovered from over 1,000 vessels dating across the transition to farming, we found unexpected consistency in the use of aquatic foods at odds with prevailing narrative of large-scale demographic and economic change. We argue that the ability of farming groups to adapt to their environment by learning hunter-gatherer-fisher practices, combined with dairying, was key to their northerly expansion. We also provide evidence of dairy use by hunter-gatherers which we attribute to long-distance exchange with farmers, implying a much greater degree of interaction and cooperation than previously described. Keywords: pottery, hunter-gatherers, early farmers, organic residue analysis, circum-Baltic