%0 Journal Article %A Reichhardt, Björn %A Enkh-Amgala, Zoljargal %A Warinner, Christina %A Rest, Matthäus %+ Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society %T Enduring cycles: Documenting dairying in Mongolia and the Alps : %G eng %U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0009-6E02-A %R 10.1086/716065 %7 2021-10-11 %D 2021 %* Review method: peer-reviewed %X In this photo essay we elaborate on artisanal dairying practices in the European Alps and Mongolia. By comparing these geographically distant dairying practices, we view milk fermentation as a multispecies, multidomain food ecology that links bacteria, fungi, plants, animals, and humans in unbroken cycles of production and reproduction that have endured for millennia. We focus on how peasant dairy producers actively engage with microbial communities in form of their starter cultures, which carry locally specific values with them and form biosocial assemblages of heritage. Finally, we introduce the Dairy Cultures Ethnographic Database as an open access resource that documents local and comparative analyses of dairy practices, techniques, and embedded cultural frameworks. %J Current Anthropology %V 62 %N Suppl 24 %] 716065 %I The University of Chicago Press %C Chicago %@ 0011-3204