The beginnings of dairying as practised by pastoralists in ‘green’ Saharan Africa in the 5th millennium BC

Abstract

Previous research has identified the antiquity and chronology of dairying practices asbeginning in the Near East and its subsequent spread across Europe. In the Libyan Sahara, archaeo-logical evidence, confirmed by the remarkable rock art depicting cattle herding, together with faunalevidence, also suggests an early inception of dairying practices in North Africa and the formation ofan independent ‘secondary products’ economy by mobile pastoral groups. In this paper, we elaborateon the first unequivocal chemical evidence, based on the δ13C and ∆13C values of the major fattyacids of milk fat, for the adoption of dairying practices by prehistoric Saharan African people in thefifth millennium BC.