The Archaeology of Pig Domestication in Eurasia

Price, Max; Hongo, Hitomi

Abstract

The multifaceted behavioral and ecological flexibility of pigs and wild boar (Sus scrofa) makes study of their domestication both complex and of broad anthropological significance. While recognizing contextual contingency, we propose several “pathways” to pig domestication. We also highlight the diversity of pig management practices. This diversity complicates zooarchaeological detection of management techniques employed by humans in the early steps of domestication, and we stress the need for multiple lines of evidence. Drawing together the evidence, we review early Holocene human–Sus relations in Japan, Cyprus, northern Mesopotamia, and China. Independent pig domestication occurred in northern Mesopotamia by c. 7500 cal. BC and China by c. 6000 cal. BC. In northern Mesopotamia pig domestication followed a combined “commensal and prey” pathway that evolved into loose “extensive” husbandry that persisted as the dominant form of pig management for several millennia. There are not yet enough zooarchaeological data to speculate on the early stages of pig domestication in China, but once that process began, it involved more intensive management (relying on pens and fodder), leading to more rapid selection for phenotypes associated with domestication. Finally, pig domestication “failed” to take off in Japan. We suggest this was related to a number of factors including the lack of domestic crops and, potentially, cultural barriers to conceiving animals as property.

Citation

Price, M., & Hongo, H. (2020). The Archaeology of Pig Domestication in Eurasia. Journal of Archaeological Research, 28(4), 557-615. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-019-09142-9

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 19, 2019
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Deposit Date: Mar 7, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Archaeological Research
• Print ISSN: 1059-0161
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-7756
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 557-615
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-019-09142-9
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1179325