When analyzing fatty residues absorbed by 6000-year old pots has revealed a historical menu that challenges widely held views on European civilization's development. Oliver Craig, from the University of York, and his colleagues investigated vessels from Danish sites where humans used pottery before and after becoming farmers. Pre-farming pottery use is unusual in Europe, and allowed Craig's team to examine the theory that like fishing were completely dropped when agriculture was adopted.

Lipids from food stored or cooked in unglazed cooking pots can be trapped in the ceramic matrix and preserved for hundreds of years. Craig's team were able to extract lipid residues in microgram amounts from the ceramic and characterise them using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The researchers studied isotope ratios found in carbonised surface deposits on 100 of 220 vessels recovered from the Danish sites. They also investigated isotopic and structural characteristics of absorbed lipids preserved in 133 vessels.