Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Archaeology: The milk revolution

When a single genetic mutation first let ancient Europeans drink milk, it set the stage for a continental upheaval.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Salque, M. et al. Nature 493, 522–525 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Leonardi, M., Gerbault, P., Thomas, M. G. & Burger, J. Int. Dairy J. 22, 88–97 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gerbault, P. et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 366, 863–877 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Itan, Y., Powell, A., Beaumont, M. A., Burger, J. & Thomas, M. G. PLoS Comp. Biol. 5, e1000491 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bersaglieri, T. et al. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 74, 1111–1120 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Vigne, J.-D. in The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences (eds Bocquet-Appel, J.-P. & Bar-Yosef, O.) 179–205 (Springer, 2008).

  7. Edwards, C. J. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 274, 1377–1385 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bramanti, B. et al. Science 326, 137–140 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Evershed, R. P. et al. Nature 455, 528–531 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Tweet Facebook LinkedIn Weibo

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Pottery shards put a date on Africa’s dairying 2012-Jun-20

Ancient DNA solves milk mystery 2007-Feb-26

Human evolution: How Africa learned to love the cow 2006-Dec-21

Related external links

LeCHE project

BEAN project

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Curry, A. Archaeology: The milk revolution. Nature 500, 20–22 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/500020a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/500020a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing