Seasonal calving in European Prehistoric cattle and its impacts on milk availability and cheese-making
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F21%3A43903360" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/21:43903360 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/61989592:15210/21:73606685
Result on the web
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87674-1" target="_blank" >https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87674-1</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87674-1" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41598-021-87674-1</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Seasonal calving in European Prehistoric cattle and its impacts on milk availability and cheese-making
Original language description
Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but exactly when this capacity developed in domestic cattle is still unknown and the extent to which early farming communities controlled the seasonality of reproduction is debated. Seasonal or aseasonal calving would have shaped the socio-economic practices of ancient farming societies differently, structuring the agropastoral calendar and determining milk availability where dairying is attested. In this study, we reconstruct the calving pattern through the analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios of cattle tooth enamel from 18 sites across Europe, dating from the 6th mill. cal BC (Early Neolithic) in the Balkans to the 4th mill. cal BC (Middle Neolithic) in Western Europe. Seasonal calving prevailed in Europe between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC. These results suggest that cattle agropastoral systems in Neolithic Europe were strongly constrained by environmental factors, in particular forage resources. The ensuing fluctuations in milk availability would account for cheese-making, transforming a seasonal milk supply into a storable product.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60102 - Archaeology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Scientific Reports
ISSN
2045-2322
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
11
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
11
Pages from-to
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UT code for WoS article
000640601800019
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85104442811