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Abstract

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea
as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from
Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to
their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning
the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka–Volga–Don and
East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus.
During the fourth millennium bc, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while
reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversi-
fication of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases,
followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support
these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more
than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy,
including a new focus on horse milking.