7500 years ago, this Neolithic beauty couldn’t drink milk

Her remains were discovered in 1996 in a cave, beneath layers of deposits containing fish, bird, mammal bones, and flint tools. Welcome to our section “Skull of the Day.”

The burial is about 5400 BCE. Neanderthals once lived in these areas.

The Neolithic beauty was named “Calpeia,” after “Mons Calpe” — the ancient name of Gibraltar. In 2019, DNA was extracted from the remains, and the process of reconstructing her appearance began.

The DNA analysis revealed much to researchers: she was female, with fair skin, dark eyes and dark hair, and had a slim build. Calpeia’s genome is 10% identical to that of local Mesolithic hunters, with the remaining 90% originating from Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. Most likely, Calpeia’s ancestors were descendants of migrants from the east.

Calpeia was lactose intolerant: in the late Neolithic period, animal husbandry was still only spreading across the Iberian Peninsula, and dairy farming was unlikely to have been part of her culture. Yes, 7,000 years ago, most adult Europeans couldn’t drink milk, just like many modern Southeast Asians — the relevant mutation had not yet spread in the population. The fact that most of us can easily digest lactose is a vivid example of rapid evolution.

Based on the skull’s sutures, Calpeia was 30–40 years old at the time of her death. The skull was heavily deformed, with some parts missing — so specialists had to work hard to restore what was lost.