Pigs in the Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent: New evidence from Pre-pottery Neolithic Bestansur and Shimshara, Iraqi Kurdistan (7800 – 7100 BC)

Donna de Groene*, Robin Bendrey, Roger Matthews

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Pigs are one of the earliest domesticated livestock species, first domesticated at least 10,000 years ago. The domestication of wild boar, including associated morphological changes, is a long process over several millennia. Across Southwest Asia, management, domestication and the adaption of the different livestock species was a highly localized process, influenced by both cultural and environmental factors.This paper explores the size, age and diet of the suids of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of Bestansurand Shimshara in order to further our understanding of the origins of suid management in the Neolithic Eastern Fertile Crescent. Our data suggest that the relationship between wild boar and humans was more complex than a strict hunter-prey relationship. This study demonstrates that the Neolithic in the Zagros was not uniform in the adaption and exploitation of different animals.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology
Early online date27 Sept 2021
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 27 Sept 2021

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • animal domestication
  • Eastern Fertile Crescent
  • Neolithic
  • pig domestication
  • zooarcheology

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