DNA traces cattle back to a small herd domesticated around 10,500 years ago

[Brian.Pearson]

"They were much bigger than modern cattle, and wouldn't have had the domestic traits we see today, such as docility. So capturing these animals in the first place would not have been easy, and even if some people did manage snare them alive, their continued management and breeding would still have presented considerable challenges until they had been bred for smaller size and more docile behavior."

Interesting pics...

[Six Foot Three]

Yeap that's right around when the neolithic era of agriculture first started in the levant region (Natufian Culture) although i assume that raising cattle for dairy purposes probably didnt start much later until around 5,000 b.c. in the British Isles and Northern Europe since most of the worlds population outside that region is lactose intolerant.

[Brian.Pearson]

I hadn't known about the lactose intolerance part of the picture. I bet that by the milk angle, the cattle would've gotten smaller.

[Six Foot Three]

Hmm i don't know enough about that .... however an interesting comparison between the agriculture staples of dairy and grains (european ancestry) and that is on one side of the linear graph the farther up towards NW Europe you go the higher rates of celiac disease (grain intolerance) are found in people and heading the opposite way as the further down you go towards SE Europe the higher rates of lactose intolerance are found in people as that shows where the ancient neolithic grain farmers ''first'' resided as well as where those ancient dairy farmers were located at (10,000 b.c. - 5,000 b.c.) .

[Brian.Pearson]

So you find grain intolerance on one extreme and milk intolerance on the other end. I wonder if some people gradually adapted to both milk and grain.

[Six Foot Three]

Of course as many people have no problem with either as we mutate genetically to our enviroment (food, air, water, sun exposure, temperatures etc.) when exposed over the millenia however i do believe that lactose intolerance is more problematic amongst the worlds population than is celiac disease. My thought on that is that not only did grain cultivation start several millenia earlier but also it was easier to transport grain seeds around the world back then than to move dairy cattle at great distances hence on a ''macro'' level most of the world today is lactose intolerant except in northern European ancestry where it was first domesticated and consumed.

[Brian.Pearson]

It could be that there were goats around in areas where people could not tolerate cow milk. I had read that goat milk was closer to a mother's milk, anyway. So goat milk could be more likely to drink goat milk.

That is, if goats had been domesticated in the time period we are talking about.

[Six Foot Three]

Originally Posted by Brian.Pearson

It could be that there were goats around in areas where people could not tolerate cow milk. I had read that goat milk was closer to a mother's milk, anyway. So goat milk could be more likely to drink goat milk.

That is, if goats had been domesticated in the time period we are talking about.

Yeah i imagine that goats milk has lactose as well and i believe that goats were used in nomadic cultures back then which allowed them to travel farther than cattle and so maybe the peoples of the Eurasian Steppes and mountainous areas (russia, mongolia, afghanistan, pakistan etc.) probably can consume milk or at least at higher rates outside of northern Europe.

Cool thread you started here brian

[Brian.Pearson]

Originally Posted by 6 Foot 3

Yeah i imagine that goats milk has lactose as well and i believe that goats were used in nomadic cultures back then which allowed them to travel farther than cattle and so maybe the peoples of the Eurasian Steppes and mountainous areas (russia, mongolia, afghanistan, pakistan etc.) probably can consume milk or at least at higher rates outside of northern Europe.

Cool thread you started here brian

Yeah you have point. Goats can eat just about anything.

Here's a bit about goats milk compared to cow milk.

For the people who may not know much about the difference...

[Six Foot Three]

The link states ''Forbidden'' although you can compare on wikipedia.

BTW with the exception of faulty genetics all humans produce lactase from birth to about age 2 as we are designed to consume our mothers milk however most humans lactase producing genes are down regulated after that age.