Long-term morphological changes and evolving human-pig relations in the northern Fertile Crescent from 11,000 to 2000 cal. bc

Abstract

The pig (Sus scrofa) was one of the earliest animals in the ancient Middle East to undergo domestication. Scholars have long been interested in the pig’s unique history, especially in the northern Fertile Crescent (NFC), the region in which the first steps towards pig domestication took place in the ninth–eighth millennia cal. bc. Yet, few zooarchaeologists have studied the morphological changes in pigs and other animals over the long term, especially in the periods after the initial appearance of domesticates. We combine geometric morphometrics (GMM) and more traditional biometrics to demonstrate how suid morphology evolved over a long timespan: 11,000–2000 cal. bc. Our GMM and biometrical data from Jarmo and Domuztepe, Neolithic sites occupied after the first domestic pigs emerged in the region, show that wild boar continued to play important roles in human-suid relations. More generally, our data show a gradual reduction in size and the attainment of a “morphological plateau” in the fourth millennium cal. bc. We suggest that these changes reflect (1) the evolution of pig husbandry practices over time in response to deforestation, intensive agriculture, and urbanism and (2) a reduction in the frequency of hybridizations between wild boar and domestic pigs.