Milk used long before milking cows

A team of researchers has recently discovered evidence of the use of milk by early humans that predates the introduction of domesticated cattle.

The team, consisting of international members as well as a South African Wits University Professor, discovered micro-residue of an unusual paint mixture excavated from Sibudu cave located along the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

The paint consists of red powdered ochre and dried milk protein, casein.

This milk protein, however was extracted from a wild bovid animal, such as a buffalo or kudu, rather than a domesticated cow.

Wild bovid animals separate from the herd when giving birth to their young.

This makes an easy target for experienced hunters such as the Sibudu people, who would have killed the animal in order to obtain the milk, writes the research team.

This find suggests that the Sibudu people had both discovered milk as well as attached to it a certain value and significance before domesticated cattle were ever used to extract the product.

There is not enough evidence to suggest that this use of milk by the Sibudu people was of the tempera technique; an ancient art medium of pigment mixed with milk, however it is still an interesting discovery.