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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Green Living / Dairy Precedes Agriculture in Human History

Dairy Precedes Agriculture in Human History

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Swiss of the Loetschental Valley
  • The Maasai of Africa
  • Dairy Sustained Humans Before Agriculture!

The “cow milk is for baby cows” argument against dairy does not match the reality of how humanity survived and thrived long before the advent of agriculture.

dairy cows sustaining humans before plants

A school of thought that “cow milk is for baby cows” and that it is unnatural for humans to be drinking it has become somewhat of a catchphrase by plant-based aficionados in recent years.

In two of the radio interviews I’ve done over the years, this point was specifically addressed as a counterpoint to my discussion of the health benefits of drinking grassfed raw milk.

No doubt this notion is bolstered by the ever-increasing rates of allergies to processed dairy. Thus, more folks are wondering if dairy should be consumed by humans at all.  

The vegan community also espouses this line of thinking on the principle that consumption of animal foods is fundamentally and morally wrong.

Certainly, this is a valid point to ask and the answer I have typically given is that healthy cultures consumed raw dairy for centuries.

In fact, dairy is one of humankind’s foundational foods. It supported the vibrant health and high fertility necessary to survive and thrive.

What’s more, dairy was critical to the survival of the human race long before we ended our nomadic roots and began cultivating plants.

Swiss of the Loetschental Valley

To the Traditional Swiss living in the isolated Loetschental valley, raw dairy and, in particular, butter was a sacred food. 

This was not a pale supermarket butter. Rather, it was a golden alpine butter made from the rich, beige cream of cows grazing on thick grass.

The children raised on this nutrient dense, raw butter had strong physiques, wide faces with plenty of room for their teeth, and a high resistance to disease. 

There wasn’t a single case of tuberculosis in Loetschental despite this illness raging elsewhere in Switzerland during the early part of the 1900s.

The young men raised on this nutrient-dense traditional diet based primarily on dairy with plenty of raw, deep yellow to orange butter were so superior in physique, strength, and character that the Vatican favored them over all others to serve in the Papal Guard.

The Maasai of Africa

During his travels in the early part of the last century, Dr. Weston Price examined five cattle-keeping groups in Africa who were still subsisting upon a completely ancestral diet.

These included:

  •  Maasai of Tanganyika
  • Muhima of Uganda
  • Chewya of Kenya
  • Watusi of Ruanda
  • Neurs tribes on the western side of the Nile near the country of Sudan.

These groups were largely following a carnivore diet consisting primarily of meat and milk.

These dairy-consuming peoples were very tall with even the women averaging over 6 feet in height in some tribes. 

All displayed marvelous physiques and perfectly straight, uncrowded teeth.  Six tribes had no dental decay whatsoever.

Clearly, the basis of milk in the diet was a critical component of the vibrant health enjoyed by these ancestral people groups.

Dairy Sustained Humans Before Agriculture!

Now, strong evidence has emerged that humans consumed dairy even before the advent of agriculture and civilization itself.

Before humans ever cultivated fruits, vegetables, and grains in prehistoric Africa, they were actively utilizing dairy cattle to sustain themselves.

While these early dairy farmers did not appear to drink fresh raw milk, they did use it to make butter, cheese, and yogurt.

Julie Dunne of the University of Bristol, the lead author of this important archaeological study, found the first direct evidence of dairy being of prime importance in the diet of the prehistoric people of the African Sahara.

These people used cattle for their milk many thousands of years ago. This was long before the cultivation of plants in this region.

Milk is one the very few foods that give us carbohydrates, fats and proteins in one go. So being able to use milk like these people did would’ve made an enormous difference to their health. It would’ve provided food for life. (1)

Archaeologists found the initial evidence in rock art images. These pictures illustrated domesticated cattle from the Wadi Imha, in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of Libyan Sahara.  

Scientists have dated these images between 5,000 and 8,000 years old.

Additional evidence came via analysis of organic residues from pottery fragments. They were excavated from the Takarkori rock shelter in Saharan Libya.

Fully half of the vessels inspected were used to process dairy products! (2)

While it seems implausible that dairy cattle could have once roamed the Sahara given its harsh and arid conditions today, Dunne notes that this region was completely different 10,000 years ago.

In fact, it was much wetter and greener than most people realize.

So the next time someone uses the “cow milk is for baby cows” line, casually mention that in the location of humanity’s earliest roots, people sustained themselves using dairy as a staple food.

This was long before humans began cultivating plants!

References

(1) First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium BC

(2) Once-Green Sahara Hosted Early African Dairy Farms

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Category: Green Living, Healthy Living
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (118)

  1. Sheril Carey via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:44 am

    the statement that humans are the only species that consume the milk of other species is totally irrelevant. Humans are also the only species that weave cloth and sew it into clothes, the only species that build musical instruments and combine them into symphonic music, the only species that build printing presses and libraries….

    The flawed logic that tries to reduce humans and raise up other species so that we are all equal “animals” is nonsensical at best. And most of the arguments that come out of that are akin to if you recognize that there are many animal species that do not mate for life and you extrapolate that there is something badly wrong with swans because they generally do.

    Reply
  2. Amy Jo via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:38 am

    I have a question. I started my real food journey about a year ago. We drink raw goats milk, however it comes frozen and we thaw it. About three months ago I started not being to eat dairy AT ALL. I get very sick. Doc says lactose intolerance. Now even a little cream in my morning tea or coffee makes me have terrible bloating cramping. Im so so angry about this as I know how crucial dairy is. Would raw fresh milk be better rather than raw froze/thawed milk? Would that make a difference? Please suggest something. Im distraught over this. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Jennifer Buntrock Boston via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:37 am

    Virginia, that isn’t true. Although no one will argue that breastmilk is best, sometimes that just isn’t possible so accommodations must be made. My son is 13 months old and has been drinking raw milk formula since he was 5 weeks old. He is the healthiest and strongest baby I have ever known.

    Reply
  4. Jennifer Cosper Howard via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:33 am

    I <3 raw milk!! I make a 100 mile round trip to the dairy to buy raw milk, cheese, and kefir once a week. Here, it is $2 per gallon cheaper than store bought organic. It makes me so happy to drive up to the dairy and see all the cows grazing on grass!! I agree, you make the time and find the money for the things that are important to you!

    Reply
  5. Virginia Coster via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:32 am

    Totally unsuitable for human babies.

    Reply
  6. Cameron Bellestri via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:14 am

    Most people can afford to buy and eat healthy. It’s whether they choose to. It is definitely more work to eat healthy on a budget but it’s possible. You make your own food and snacks from scratch instead of buying the pricey unhealthy junk. My husband and I both work full time and we find the time. We are on a budget and we manage to feed our kids healthy and REAL food. There are definitely lots of excuses why people can’t, but if you and your family’s health is important you find a way. You don’t have to buy everything organic but milk and dairy is huge. Those hormones and antibiotics are horrible. It’s tough but good luck!

    Reply
  7. Burt Smth via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:14 am

    what ever eat it and drink it your all going to die some day anyway.

    Reply
  8. Amy Gault via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:14 am

    I think it’s dependent on the individual’s body. My husband is severely intolerant to milk & gluten, but my kids & I do okay with raw dairy, particularly cultured goat dairy.

    Reply
  9. Shelley Jane Hubbard via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:09 am

    Just because most peoples bodies have adapted over the years to drinking/eating milk and cheese doesn’t mean we were intended to do so, Cows milk originally was intended to turn a 25 lb. calf into a 35o lb. cow/bull in a year….humans are the only species that drink another animals milk….or that drink it after they are grown.

    Reply
  10. Tziporah Falowitz Hirsh via Facebook

    Aug 3, 2012 at 8:09 am

    Since I have no access to raw, I rarely consume any milk products.

    Reply
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