Swiss cheese was popular during Iron Age too!

Swiss cheese-making dates back to prehistoric times, according to a new study that looked at the composition of residues left on fragments of Iron Age ceramic pots found in the Alps.

The shards of pottery were known to date from Neolithic times to the Iron Age, researchers said. Researchers led by Newcastle University and University of York in the UK found that the residue on fragments from the 1st millennium BC — the Iron Age — had the same chemical signatures associated with heating milk from animals such as cows, sheep and goats, as part of the cheese-making process. The ceramic fragments examined as part of the study were found in the ruins of stone buildings similar to those used by modern alpine dairy managers for cheese production during the summer months.

Although there is earlier evidence for cheese production in lowland settings, until now virtually nothing was known about the origins of cheese-making at altitude due to the poor preservation of archaeological sites. The research team — which also included scholars from the University of Liverpool as well as Swiss and Brazilian research institutes — said that the development of alpine dairying occurred around the same time as an increasing population and the growth of arable farming in the lowlands. The resulting pressure on valley pastures forced herders to higher elevations. “Even today, producing cheese in a high mountainous environment requires extraordinary effort,” said Francesco Carrer, Research Associate at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University. “Prehistoric herders would have had to have detailed knowledge of the location of alpine pastures, be able to cope with unpredictable weather and have the technological knowledge to transform milk into a nutritious and storable product,” said Carrer.