This is an extremely important study as it establishes the
occurrence of lactase persistence in Neolithic Europe. This
invalidates the idea proposed by some about a very late (post-
Neolithic) introduction of lactase persistence into Europe by a
pastoral population from the east, since we now have good
evidence about the presence of this trait in a Neolithic sample
from Atlantic Europe. The frequency is higher than in the early
Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (where it was absent in the tested
samples), and lower than in present-day Basques, although levels
of 27% are quite comparable to some modern south European
populations. We are unlikely to detect the earliest occurrence
of this trait (when it was limited to the original mutant and
his descendants, prior to having a substantial advantage for
digesting milk), but the new findings represent a new non-zero
data point in the time series, which will certainly fill up as
more points in space and time are tested. European Journal of
Human Genetics advance online pub