Antiquity 79 (306)

By extracting residues from pottery sherds the authors show that it is possible to say whether they had contained dairy or carcass fat residues. Correlation with faunal assemblages showed a good match between the incidence of dairy fat in pottery which implied a strong dairy fraction in the diet and a milking herd implied by the animal bones. They also show that dairy fat was more likely to be found in the smaller pots while carcass fats occurred in the larger ones. The method has demonstrated dairying in England from the fifth millennium BC, and offers a novel way of studying economies with pottery but few animal bones.

Given that rapid extension of 14C-age dating into the last glaciation due to a rising interest in high-resolution climate events is demanding ever greater emphasis on accurate stratigraphic placement of samples relative to events or objects to be dated, and that this shifts the primary responsibility for date quality from the producer of dates, who is responsible for their precision, to geological and archaeological consumers, who are responsible for their stratigraphic and calibrated accuracy, the author argues that it is essential that both sides accept the partial switch of mutual roles and collaborate constructively and respect the traditional freedom of choice that marks basic research.