• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
The Healthy Home Economist

The Healthy Home Economist

embrace your right to a lifetime of health

Get Plus
  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Archives
  • Log in
  • Get Plus
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Get Plus
  • Log in
  • Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Archives
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Recipes
  • Healthy Living
  • Natural Remedies
  • Green Living
  • Videos
  • Natural Remedies
  • Health
  • Green Living
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Green Living / Dairy Precedes the Advent of Agriculture in Human History

Dairy Precedes the Advent of 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 Even Before Agriculture!

A school of thought that “cow milk is just for baby cows” and that it is unnatural for humans to be drinking it has become somewhat of a catchphrase by some in the health community 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, and so naturally, 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 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 and that it was, in fact, a foundational food that supported their vibrant health, excellent bone structure, fertility, and resistance to chronic and degenerative disease.

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.  Not a pale supermarket type butter, but 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 TB in Loetschental despite this illness raging elsewhere in Switzerland during the early part of the 1900′s.

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 perfect and pleasing in physique, strength, and character that the Vatican favored them over all others in Europe to serve as the Papal Guard.

The Maasai of Africa

During the travels of Dr. Weston A. Price in the early part of the last century, five cattle keeping groups in Africa were examined who were still subsisting upon a completely ancestral diet:  The Maasai of Tanganyika, the Muhima of Uganda, the Chewya of Kenya, the Watusi of Ruanda, and the 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 largely carnivorous tribes were very tall with even the women averaging over 6 feet in height in some tribes.  All these tribes had 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 tribes.

Dairy Sustained Humans Even Before Agriculture!

Now, new evidence is emerging that humans consumed dairy even before the advent of agriculture and civilization itself.

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

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

Julie Dunne of the University of Bristol, lead author of the archaeological study published in Nature which found the first direct evidence that prehistoric people of the African Sahara used cattle for their milk many thousands of years ago long before the cultivation of plants in this region said:

“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.”

The initial evidence was found in rock art images illustrating domesticated cattle from the Wadi Imha, in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains, Libyan Sahara.   Scientists have dated these images at between 5,000 and 8,000 years old.

Additional evidence came via analysis of organic residues from pottery fragments excavated from the Takarkori rock shelter in Saharan Libya which indicated that half the vessels inspected were used to process dairy products.

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

So the next time someone slaps the “cow milk is for baby cows” line on you, you can casually mention that in Africa, the location of humanity’s earliest roots according to some scientists, humans have consumed dairy far longer than they’ve been cultivating plants!

 

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

Source: First Evidence for Early Dairy Farming in North Africa

FacebookPinEmailPrint
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: the 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.

You May Also Like

How to Find + Use Chicken Feet for the Best Broth Ever 2

How to Find + Use Chicken Feet for the Best Broth Ever

man leaping a gap in a cliff

GAPS Success Stories!

Herbal Bitters: Invaluable Aid to Fat Digestion

Herbal Bitters: Invaluable Aid to Fat Digestion

Coconut and Almond Milk in Cartons Not a Healthy Buy

Where Oh Where Has All the Decent Chocolate Gone?

Where Oh Where Has All the Decent Chocolate Gone?

little girl eating chocolate donut

Is Chocolate Safe for Children?

Feeling Tired More Than You Should?

Get a free chapter of my book Get Your Fats Straight + my weekly newsletter and learn which fats to eat (and which to avoid) to reduce sugar cravings and improve energy significantly!

We send no more than one email per week. You will never be spammed or your email sold, ever.
Loading

Is Your Home Making You Sick?

Get a free chapter of my book Living Green in an Artificial World + my newsletter and learn how to start creating a living environment that supports and enhances health!

We send no more than one email per week. You will never be spammed or your email sold, ever.
Loading

Reader Interactions

Comments (116)

  1. Amanda Cook Elliott via Facebook

    Aug 8, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    “dairy I consume is raw and grassfed and not full of pus”

    Incorrect. ALL milk, even HUMAN milk, is full of pus.

    Reply
  2. Ashlee Purdie via Facebook

    Aug 7, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    @Virginia Coster, you don’t know the answers to those questions if you cannot meet the dairy owner face to face and ask what they test for and how often. I own a family milk cow and we KNOW our cow is free of disease. Personally, if I didn’t have her, I would only want to buy milk from a farmer with a very small herd. It is much easier to spot a cow with a potential illness if you are only handling a small number of animals.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sidebar

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

The Healthy Home Economist

Since 2002, Sarah has been a Health and Nutrition Educator dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. Read More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Check Out My Books

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

Contact the Healthy Home Economist. The information on this website has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. By accessing or using this website, you agree to abide by the Terms of Service, Full Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Affiliate Disclosure, and Comment Policy.

Copyright © 2009–2023 · The Healthy Home Economist · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!