Dairy Precedes Agriculture in Human History

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.

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