英国布里斯托大学J. Dunne和R. P. Evershed等研究人员，合作发现史前儿童坟墓中陶瓷婴儿奶瓶中装过反刍动物奶的证据。该研究2019年9月25日在线发表于《自然》杂志。
研究人员根据对脂质“指纹”的分析，以及在青铜器中发现的三个小口状容器中残留脂肪酸的主要脂肪酸化合物特定δ13C和Δ13C值，对来自巴伐利亚铁器时代的婴儿坟墓容器中所含食物进行了报告。结果表明，这些容器被用来为婴儿提供反刍动物乳制品。对于这些早期社区来说，用于喂养或断奶史前婴儿食品的这一证据证实了驯养动物奶源的重要性，并提供了史前人类群体所采取的婴儿喂养行为的信息。
据介绍，对儿童饮食（包括母乳喂养和断奶）的研究对于我们对过去社会婴儿死亡率和生育能力的理解具有重要意义。婴儿骨骼胶原蛋白和牙本质样品中氮的稳定同位素分析提供了断奶时间的信息。但是，对于史前婴儿食用哪种食物知之甚少。最早可用于喂养婴儿的黏土器皿出现在新石器时代的欧洲，并且在整个青铜时代和铁器时代变得越来越普遍。但是，这些可以倒出液体的含嘴容器也被认为是给病人或体弱者的喂食容器。
附：英文原文
Title: Milk of ruminants in ceramic baby bottles from prehistoric child graves
Author: J. Dunne, K. Rebay-Salisbury, R. B. Salisbury, A. Frisch, C. Walton-Doyle, R. P. Evershed
Issue&Volume: 2019-09-25
Abstract:
The study of childhood diet, including breastfeeding and weaning, has important implications for our understanding of infant mortality and fertility in past societies1. Stable isotope analyses of nitrogen from bone collagen and dentine samples of infants have provided information on the timing of weaning2; however, little is known about which foods were consumed by infants in prehistory. The earliest known clay vessels that were possibly used for feeding infants appear in Neolithic Europe, and become more common throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. However, these vessels—which include a spout through which liquid could be poured—have also been suggested to be feeding vessels for the sick or infirm3,4. Here we report evidence for the foods that were contained in such vessels, based on analyses of the lipid ‘fingerprints’ and the compound-specific δ13C and Δ13C values of the major fatty acids of residues from three small, spouted vessels that were found in Bronze and Iron Age graves of infants in Bavaria. The results suggest that the vessels were used to feed infants with milk products derived from ruminants. This evidence of the foodstuffs that were used to either feed or wean prehistoric infants confirms the importance of milk from domesticated animals for these early communities, and provides information on the infant-feeding behaviours that were practised by prehistoric human groups.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1572-x
Source:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1572-x
Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html
本期文章：《自然》：Online/在线发表
