Parents were feeding babies animal milk from a bottle as early as the 5th century B.C.

When researchers analyzed a series of small ceramic vessels recovered from Bronze Age and Iron Age infant graves in Bavaria, they identified the residue of nonhuman milk.

The prehistoric bottles boasted small spouts for babies to suckle, and some of the vessels were adorned with animal feet and heads.

In the lab, scientists used chemical and isotopic analysis to determine the liquids they contained. The tests revealed the presence of ruminant milk from domesticated cattle, sheep or goat.

Scientists have found similar vessels dating to the Neolithic period, but until now, researchers couldn't be certain what the bottles were used for. Some researchers suggested the vessels were used to feed the sick and elderly.

But the latest research -- published this week in the journal Nature -- suggests the primitive bottles were used to feed babies after they had been weaned from breast milk.

"These very small, evocative, vessels give us valuable information on how and what babies were fed thousands of years ago, providing a real connection to mothers and infants in the past," lead study author Julie Dunne, a chemist at the University of Bristol, said in a news release. "Similar vessels, although rare, do appear in other prehistoric cultures -- such as Rome and ancient Greece -- across the world."

Dunne and her colleagues aim to test similar bottle-like vessels from other parts of the world, in order to gain new insights into how weaning practices differed among disparate groups.

"Bringing up babies in prehistory was not an easy task. We are interested in researching cultural practices of mothering, which had profound implications for the survival of babies," said Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, a researcher at the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. "It is fascinating to be able to see, for the first time, which foods these vessels contained."

Ancient litter on cave floor offers insight into lives of early humans
Washington (UPI) Sep 26, 2019 - Scientists are gaining new insights into the day-to-day existence of early human groups, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, thanks to analysis of dirt and dust on the floor of a cave complex in Siberia.

Researchers from Russia and Australia deployed modern geoarchaeological techniques to study tiny fragments of bones and fossilized animal droppings, as well as bits of charcoal from ancient fires.

The data -- detailed this week in the journal Scientific Reports -- showed the Denisova Cave complex in Siberia's Altai Mountains was frequented, over the course of thousands of years, by hyena, wolves and even bears, as well as Denisovans, Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.

"These hominin groups and large carnivores such as hyenas and wolves left a wealth of microscopic traces that illuminate the use of the cave over the last three glacial-interglacial cycles," Mike Morley, the study's lead author and a researcher at Flinders University in Australia, said in a news release. "Our results complement previous work by some of our colleagues at the site that has identified ancient DNA in the same dirt, belonging to Neanderthals and a previously unknown human group, the Denisovans, as well as a wide range of other animals."

Most studies of prehistoric life rely on ancient DNA and visible artifacts, such as stone tools or animal and plant remains. But the latest findings offer proof that new insights can be gleaned from sifting through sediment.

"Using microscopic analyses, our latest study shows sporadic hominin visits, illustrated by traces of the use of fire such as minuscule fragments, but with continuous use of the site by cave-dwelling carnivores such as hyenas and wolves," said Richard Roberts, a professor at University of Wollongong in Australia.

The abundance of animal droppings suggests the region's large carnivores, species that have since gone extinct, dominated the cave. It's unlikely nomadic hominin groups would have shared the cave with animals. The findings suggest Neanderthals, Denisovans and early humans only visited periodically and stayed for brief periods of time.

The Denisova Cave complex is famous for yielding fossil evidence of a mysterious group of early hominins known as Denisovans.

The group interbred with Neanderthals and early humans, and genomic analysis suggests they are responsible for between three and five percent of the DNA of Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians. The people of Papua New Guinea derive as much as six percent of their DNA from Denisovans.

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What the noggin of modern humans' ancestor would have looked like
Paris, France (SPX) Sep 23, 2019
Despite having lived about 300,000 years ago, the oldest ancestor of all members of Homo sapiens had a surprisingly modern skull - as suggested by a model created by CNRS researcher Aurelien Mounier and Cambridge University professor Marta Mirazon Lahr. After comparing the virtually rendered skull to those of five African fossil specimens contemporaneous with the first appearance of Homo sapiens, the two researchers posit that our species emerged through interbreeding of South and East African pop ... read more