Chalcolithic pig remains from Çamlıbel Tarlası, Central Anatolia

The Late Chalcolithic site of Çamlıbel Tarlası (3590–3470 cal BC) located near Bogazkale in Anatolia was a rural settlement spanning an estimated time interval of 120 years. While the main domestic ungulates were represented by comparable numbers of bones among the faunal remains, this paper is aimed at studying pigs within the context of other animals. It seems that pig still played a major role in Chalcolithic meat diets at a site that shows little evidence of hunting. The domestic status of pigs was therefore studied from different angles, including traditional morphometry supported by ancient DNA studies and geometric morphometrics. All results point to the overwhelming dominance of domestic pig characteristics in the Chalcolithic assemblage. While the influence of local wild boar seems evident, most bones fall below the size range of the wild ancestor. Ancient DNA is indicative of local origins for these pigs. Geometric morphometric analyses revealed a domestic signature for nearly all the specimens analysed. The overall results are indicative of small scale, household-level animal husbandry in which pigs had a fair share before the onset of sheep and goat based systems of animal husbandry at the beginning of the Anatolian Bronze Age.