Humans have been eating cheese for 9.000 years. A group of researchers from UK, USA and Poland has proved that people ate cheese back in 7.000 B.C. Several pieces of pottery with holes similar to actual cheese strainers have been found in multiple sites from Anatolia, Europe and Africa. Scientists have found a great amount of milk fats inside strainers holes. So these specialized pottery vessels were used to milk processing without doubt. According to these evidences, farmers from Neolithic period did an early use of milk, separating fat-rich milk cruds from lactose-containing whey.

The processing of milk could have been a relevant development in prehistoric agriculture not only allowing the preservation of milk, but also manufacturing milk derivates with less lactose more easily to digest.

Salque M., et al. Nature. 2013 Jan 24;493(7433):522-5. doi: 10.1038/nature11698