Ancient Pig DNA Study Sheds New Light On Colonization Of Europe By Early Farmers
- From: Jack Linthicum <jacklinthicum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:35:46 -0700
Ancient Pig DNA Study Sheds New Light On Colonization Of Europe By
Early Farmers
Science Daily - The earliest domesticated pigs in Europe, which many
archaeologists believed to be descended from European wild boar, were
actually introduced from the Middle East by Stone Age farmers, new
research suggests.
The research by an international team led by archaeologists at Durham
University, which is published recently in the journal Proceedings of
the National Academies of Sciences, analysed mitochondrial DNA from
ancient and modern pig remains. Its findings also suggest that the
migration of an expanding Middle Eastern population, who brought their
'farming package' of domesticated plants, animals and distinctive
pottery styles with them, actually 'kickstarted' the local
domestication of the European wild boar.
While archaeologists already know that agriculture began about 12,000
years ago in the central and western parts of the Middle East,
spreading rapidly across Europe between 6,800 -- 4000BC, many
outstanding questions remain about the mechanisms of just how it
spread. This research sheds new and important light on the actual
process of the establishment of farming in Europe.
Durham University's Dr Keith Dobney explained: "Many archaeologists
believe that farming spread through the diffusion of ideas and
cultural exchange, not with the direct migration of people. However,
the discovery and analysis of ancient Middle Eastern pig remains
across Europe reveals that although cultural exchange did happen,
Europe was definitely colonised by Middle Eastern farmers.
"A combination of rising population and possible climate change in the
'fertile crescent', which put pressure on land and resources, made
them look for new places to settle, plant their crops and breed their
animals and so they rapidly spread west into Europe."
The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Smithsonian
Institution also showed that within 500 years after the local
domestication of the European wild boar, the new domestics completely
replaced the Middle Eastern pigs that had arrived in Europe as part of
the 'farming package'.
Dr Greger Larson, who performed the genetic analysis said: "The
domestic pigs that were derived from the European wild boar must have
been considered vastly superior to those originally from Middle East,
though at this point we have no idea why. In fact, the European
domestic pigs were so successful that over the next several thousand
years they spread across the continent and even back into the Middle
East where they overtook the indigenous domestic pigs. For whatever
reason, European pigs were the must have farm animal."
The research is part of an ongoing research project based at Durham
University which explores the role of animals in reconstructing early
farming, ancient human migration and past trade and exchange networks
around the world.
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