Friday, September 27, 2019

Before baby formula

Science magazine notes that it's now thought that these are 3,000 year old baby bottles, from Germany:
 The carbon isotopes inside two of the vessels suggested they held milk from ruminants, such as cows, sheep, or goats. The other once held milk from another type of mammal, perhaps pigs or humans. That means babies were drinking animal milk from bottles at least 3000 years ago, the team reports today in Nature. It wouldn’t have met babies’ nutritional needs the way breast milk or modern formula does, but it could have been used as a supplementary food during weaning.
Or, I suppose, they could just be for putting milk in your ancient tea?

Anyway, the one on the right looks a bit like a fat kangaroo, no?

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