Organic residues preserved in the pottery suggest that even before 6,500 BC milk was processed and stored, although this varied regionally depending on the farming techniques used. ed.z.: and my thanks to these early herdsmen! I know a lot of people don't like dairy products or just can't tolerate them chemically, but they have always been one of my favorites long as I can remember. heh, just ran and did an inventory check in the fridge, butter, sweet milk, sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, several kinds of regular cheese, two kinds of ice cream in the freezer. Anyway, the article, two thousand more years is a significant jump! It's not like this hasn't been thought about and studied for a long time. The tech they have now is really good for studying our collective history, and the neat part is, they keep finding out we were a lot more sophisticated way back than previously thought, with a number of disciplines.