3000 BC – Evidence of Dairy Cows Playing a Major Role in Ancient Sumerian Civilization

Although there is evidence of cattle domestication in Mesopotamia as early as 8000 B.C.E., the milking of dairy cows did not become a major part of Sumerian civilization until approximately 3000 B.C.E.

Archaelogical evidence shows that the Ancient Sumerians drank cow’s milk and also made cow’s milk into cheeses and butters.

The picture to the left is of a carved dairy scene found in the temple of Ninhursag in the Sumerian city of Tell al-Ubaid. The scene, which shows typical dairy activities such as milking, straining and making butter, dates to the first half of the third millennium B.C.E.